A Relationship, Sans The Romance
by CoffinCat
Summary: Yay puns. Raven Blu is a former villain trying to get her life back on track after a laundry list of mistakes. All she wants is to have a normal life, but between therapy, past enemies, and anger management, the only normalcy in her life is a new friend, who just so happens to be a skeleton. this is actually connected to another YJ fanfiction series. Details in the A/N.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

 **A mix of boredom and obsession has inspired me to write this little cross over fiction. For those of you familiar with my previous work with DC comic fictions you're familiar with my OC Raven Blu. For those of you unfamiliar with me, don't worry, I should be able to work my literary magic and word this so that you can understand without having to read my previous stories. If not, please tell me and I'll do better, or I'll just explain it all in an A/N. I decided to have Raven encounter Sans because, hell why not? With that out of the way, ONWARD TO THE BATTLE FIELD!**

Raven awoke to the sound of a crash, she got up quickly and rushed to the source of the sound. Her cat, Cherie Curie, close on her heels. She made her way downstairs silently, so as not to alert any possible intruders. She glared, now was so not the time for someone to have broken into her house. She was already grouchy from a lack of sleep, and the fact that she still had to go into see Dr. Leland in...she looked at the coffin shaped clock in the hallway...she swore under her breath. She had less than 2 hours before she had to leave.

"Whoever broke in better _pray_ they can get out quick." she hissed. Behind her she heard Cherie mew as the two made their way down to the kitchen, where the noises continued. She quickly flicked on the lights only to find...Raven let out a sigh.

"For the love of _hell!_ " She shouted as she looked down at the floor to see shattered pieces of a coffee mug, and about three stray cats on her counter. Upon hearing her voice they all looked up and scattered. Raven groaned, she should have known better than to leave her bedroom window open.

"You cats really need to find a new place to hang out." She grumbled as she went to clean up the mess, "Aw man, this was my favorite mug."

Grumbling she wove her hands in the air and the broken ceramic shards levitated in the air and into the trash. Raven smiled, oh how she loved magic. She then looked to Cherie who was now sitting with the other felines on the counter. She scowled, "You three off, my counter."

 _"Since when do you mind me and my fellow felines being on the counter?"_ Cherie mewed. On top of being Raven's cat Cherie was also her magical familiar. Raven had been performing magic for some time. Ever since her ex boyfriend, Klarion the witch-boy, had taught it to her. A lot had happened between the two, long story short; They were no longer together. She narrowed her eyes.

"Since they wake me up two hours before I had to be awake." She said matter-o-factly. "There's no way I'm gonna be able to go back to sleep."

Cherie's ear twitched as he and his feline compatriots hopped off the counter. The two strays bounded toward Raven's room, while Cherie made his way over to his master. Who grumbled again, "That was my favorite mug."

" _I am sure, Raven deary, that you will find another one."_ The feline sighed. Raven pursed her lips.

"So not the point. I have a lot of memories with that mug." She grumbled, "Bought that mug when I moved back in here."

Cherie blinked but other than that said nothing and made his way toward the living room. Raven sighed and did the same. There was no use going back to bed so instead she turned the TV and sat down on the old couch that sat in front of it. Not really paying attention to what was on, she thought back to when she first moved into the house with her parents when she was thirteen. Her parents were gone now, dead and buried. An old part of her life and it was behind her now. She had recently moved back in after finding out it still belonged to her and her family. Until that point she had been spending time living in halfway houses and well...lets just say the last places she had been staying weren't always pleasant.

With an hour left Raven decided to get ready to leave, she didn't like being late to therapy. Dr. Leland always read into any and all reasons she had, though other than that the good doctor wasn't so bad. If not for her she never would have gotten back on her feet after all the hell with her ex. She was grateful, not only to Leland, but to a few other people who were...not the _best_ of people but definitely Raven's best interests in mind.

After a quick shower Raven got dressed. Choosing a pair fishnets under an old Type O Negative band tee and a black pleated skirt that had a chain hanging off the hip, a pair of black leggings that had holes in them, holes she made herself with a pair of scissors, and put on her favorite buckle boots by Demonia. She had saved for a long time between bills, but she finally got them. She was pretty proud of them.

As she put on make up Raven listened to the Gotham News, they were covering the story about the Gotham City Monster District. It had been almost a year since Monsters had come up from the underground. They had made up several districts between the four major cities; Metropolis, Star, Jump, and of course Gotham City. The response from people was pretty standard, some were open minded and curious, others wanted them to go back where they came from, and others were still undecided on their opinion. Raven was somewhere in the middle of curious, and not really giving a shit. As far as she was concerned it was normal everyday stuff. She wasn't surprised to find out there had been several races of monsters living under the four major cities, after the crap she had seen and been through, nothing really surprised her anymore. It was really no difference between them and meta-humans—well, other than not being human of course—other than that it was pretty much the same shade of normal to her.

After finishing her make up—which consisted of black eyeliner making an eye of Horus mark below her left eye and black eye shadow that made her sapphire blue eyes nearly glow and dark red lipstick—she looked to the clock. Thirty minutes. It would take her at least fifteen to get there, if nothing held up the buses. She sighed and grabbed a purple colored scrunchy to tie her long natural dark blue hair back and off her neck. It showed off the metal collar as the golden ankh that hung from it settled on her shirt.

She hated that collar, unfortunately it was irremovable, Nabu—better known as Dr. Fate by those who never had the displeasure of getting to know him—made sure of that. The collar suppressed her magical aura, only allowing her to use defense based spells, and never allowing her to cast out of anger. If she did the collar would heat up according to the level of her anger or—if she went to cast a spell—would sever the link between her and her powers. Nabu's own version of teaching Raven anger management after the inhibitor collars failed to work. The thought of which only pissed her off, which caused said collar to warm up. She sighed, forcing herself to calm down. As the heat in her veins passed, so too did the heat on the metal collar. She turned toward the TV, shutting it off as she and Cherie walked down the stairs and out onto the City streets. Off to therapy.

Now, when she first started seeing Dr. Leland Raven felt everyone was watching and judging her, it felt as though everyone knew she was crazy. Now a days she reasoned that everyone was seeing a therapist these days, be it for anxiety, depression, anger management, OCD, ADHD, the list went on. For her it was all about rehabilitation...and also anger management.

Cherie hopped onto his master's shoulders as she waited at the bus stop, as she waited Raven decided to pull out her phone, placed her ear buds in her ears and cranked up her music to ignore the people around her. Just because she was being rehabilitated, didn't mean she had to enjoy the people around her. After a while she looked to check the time. Shit! The bus was late.

" _Perhaps we should proceed on foot?"_ Cherie's voiced mewed inside her head. Raven nodded silently and turned and started walking. Oh well, a walk might actually help.

"Dr. Leland _has_ been telling me to go for more walks lately." She said aloud.

~0~

"Ah, so nice of you to join me Raven." Dr. Leland said as she sat behind her desk. The right corner of Raven's mouth twitched into an apologetic yet nonchalant smile. As hard as she tried not to be, she ended up being five minutes late.

"Sorry, the bus was late." Raven explained with a shrug as she sat down in the chair across from the good doctor, "I decided to take a walk instead, look at stuff I don't normally see. Like you've been asking me to do for three weeks."

"Oh really?" Leland asked, setting down her file on Raven. She nodded.

"I sent you a message."

Lelenad looked down at her phone. "Huh, so you did," She then looked up at Raven and smiled, "So? What did you notice on your walk today?"

"Some new shops opened in my part of town." Raven said, absent mindedly petting Cherie's head, "I'm really interested in this cafe that sprouted up."

"Really?"

"I might even go after this session." Raven said with a small smile, Leland smiled back.

"That's good to hear Raven." She said with genuine enthusiasm. One of the good things about the Good Doctor, she was an actual friend, she wasn't looking to score a quick paycheck and write Raven off. She wanted to help, made Raven feel less like a hopeless case that way. "So, shall we get this done with so we can get you to your new Cafe?"

Raven nodded.

"We'll start off with our usual questions then; how have you been settling in to your new surroundings?" Leland asked.

"Not exactly new, but I'm doing pretty good. It feels weird being in the same house, but good." Raven explained, then laughed, "Even the cats are coming back."

"That's good to hear, and you're anger? How have you been managing?" Leland continued.

"...I'm still working on it."

Leland gave a look.

"I...sorta had a bit of a set back yesterday." She mumbled as she rubbed the back of her neck, "I...may have gotten angry and kicked someone's car..."

Leland sighed, "What happened _this_ time?"

"Completely minding my own business, me and Cherie were crossing the street to get home and this guy just speeds down the road." Raven explained, "Asshole nearly hit my Cherie. Come on, the guy deserved _much_ worse."

"That's right, your cat is connected to you. As a life line." Leland said, mostly to herself as she recalled another session. Raven nodded, leaning back in her chair and rubbing Cherie's chin.

"He dies, I die." She said matter-o-factly, "Usual familiar/witch situation. My collar burned for half an hour because of that."

"Well, you didn't use your magic," Leland said with a sigh as she scribbled down notes, she then looked up to Raven, "At least you didn't break his car. Honestly, I'd say consider that progress."

An hour later Raven and Leland set up an appointment for next week. After that Raven found herself in the new Cafe she had mentioned before. She was feeling pretty good about how the session went. With any luck she would be well on her way to only having one session a year.

"Yaknow, I think I'll miss the Good Doctor after all this is said and done." Raven said aloud as she sipped on a hot cup of tea. Cherie's tail twitched as he sat across from her on the table(lucky for her the small spot allowed pets).

" _You do not truly mean that."_ he said plainly. Raven shrugged. Ok, so maybe not the therapy part, but no doubt she'd miss talking to someone.

Meow.

"Someone without four legs and fur." She specified. Cherie blinked slowly and tilted his head to the side. Clearly jealous. "Oh come on, as easy as it is to talk to you Cher, I..."

Raven couldn't help but notice the sound of snickering to her left, she shifted her eyes and noticed two older women staring at her. She felt her face heat up from embarrassment and annoyance, she held her hand to her forehead to hide her face.

"...I can't exactly do it in public." She mumbled. Cherie sat up straight, draping his tail over his paws as he looked Raven dead in the eye.

" _You will forgive me, if I say that I do not care what some foolish humans think."_ He retorted. Raven looked down at her tea cup.

"You're not the one people stare at." she said. Cherie let out an audible sigh and jumped from the table onto the ground. He then looked up to Raven.

" _You should really try acting more like a cat."_ he purred as he padded off to chase a fallen leaf. Raven laughed to herself as she fished through her wallet to pay for drink. If she acted more like a cat she'd be right back in Arkham Asylum.

More people stared as Raven stood, gathered Cherie and left the cafe. The collar around her neck began to warm up as she stomped off toward the bus stop as the Gotham City bus rolled up. As she boarded the bus, she noticed more people staring at her. The collar grew hotter.

" _Mind you anger Raven deary."_ she heard Cherie mew. Raven rolled her eyes as she sat down in the back. She was annoyed, not angry. Still, her head was racing with thoughts, Dr. Leland always said to give people the benefit of the doubt, but that was a little hard when no one did the same with her. She sighed, and leaned back in the hard bus seat. Suppose she should have just considered herself lucky, at least they weren't glaring, in fact it seemed like a lot of the general public had forgotten about her over the years. Course when one thinks about it, it was pretty much a daily occurrence when it came to Gotham. So maybe she should just consider herself lucky that laughing is _ALL_ they did.

 _"Raven dearest,"_ Cherie mewed as he hopped off Raven's lap and looked out the window, " _I hate to disrupt your chain of thought, but have you paid attention to our surroundings?"_

Raven looked up and out the window and felt the metal around her neck heat up again. She boarded the wrong bus, and was now in the wrong neighborhood. She groaned as the bus stopped and she got off in Gotham Cities Monster District. She lived on the other side of the City.

Just great.

"Could today get any worse?" She said out loud. A sudden flash in the sky followed by a rumble sound gave seemed to answer her question. Soon Raven found herself in the middle of a down pour. Using herself to cover Cherie—who growled on and on about how he hated water—and rushed off to find shelter from the rain. She ended up at a tavern called "Grillby's."

A few tables close to the entrance grew quiet when she entered. She rolled her eyes. Monster, human, Meta, didn't matter, something different strolls in, people stop and stare. She gave a tight smile as she made her way to an empty seat. Which she found to be tricky, as the place was completely packed. Apparently Grillby's was a happening place in Gotham's Monster District. The only seat she found that was available was at the bar. She sat down and was greeted by a man made of fire, he wore a usual Bartender's uniform with a set of glasses.

"Uh, you don't mind pets do you?" Raven asked with a sheepish smile. The fiery man shook his head. "Appreciate that, and sorry for getting water all over the place. Forgot my umbrella."

The fiery man nodded and went back to attending the other patrons. Raven sighed as Cherie jumped from her lap onto the bar and shook, sending water all over Raven and the people next to her. They immediately all got up and moved.

"Omigod Cherie you are an _ass_." Raven hissed through gritted teeth. Cherie hissed, complaining that this wouldn't have happened if she had been paying attention to her surroundings instead of fuming over a bunch of stupid humans.

" _Or at the very least, remembered to check the weather forecast while you were busy flipping through channels for one hour."_ he growled. Raven felt the heat rise around her neck.

"Yeah, well, you weren't paying attention either." She hissed, "What's your excuse?"

"Are you...talking...to your cat?" A deep masculine voice asked. Raven quickly snapped her mouth shut. She had assumed after Cherie shook himself dry that everyone had moved away from the two.

"Um..." She began, debating on a way to explain why she was having an argument with her pet cat that didn't sound crazy. She sighed, "Yeah. Yeah I am."

She hesitated looking over. She didn't really want to see a monster giving her the 'I think you're insane' look, but she figured it was better than avoiding any eye contact and looking even more suspicious. She looked up to find herself face to face with a skeleton wearing a large, rather heavy looking blue coat. Raven took particular note of that, as it was 90 degrees and the middle of April. She also noticed that while she was looking him over, he was doing the same. It was strange, seeing how he didn't have eyes but black voids with white pinpricks that wondered over her, they also seemed to pierce through her. He stopped however when he noticed her looking.

"I take it that's not normal for humans?" He asked. Raven shook her head.

"Not really. Does that bother you bone boy?" She asked with a smirk, she'd meant for it sound somewhat flirty, but realized that it may have come off as insulting. To her surprise, however, he laughed.

"Heheh. Bone boy, I get it." He said, "So then, must be pretty special."

"Do what?"

"For a human to talk to cats. Must be pretty special."He repeated. Raven blinked, raising her eyebrows. She then snorted.

"Depends on your definition of "special" is." She said, the skeleton man cocked a nonexistent eyebrow in confusion. She shook her head, "I'm not technically all human."

"Oh?"

"Ever heard of the term meta-human?"

The skeleton man shook his head. "No, can't say I'm familiar with it."

"Meta-humans are human's with inhuman abilities." Raven elaborated, "I'm one of those who are considered meta among the usual Gothamites."

"And talking to cats is considered meta-huma?"

"That's one of the beautiful things about the term meta." Raven grumbled, "It's more of a blanket term. Anyone with an inhuman ability can considered meta. But talking to my cat isn't my meta-human ability."

"Oh? What is?" He asked, he seemed genuinely curious. Raven frown.

"That's a bit too personal for me to divulge to a guy, when I don't even know his name." She said. The skeleton paused, and for a second Raven thought she offended him. After all, it wouldn't be the first time she'd pissed someone off, in fact she had a strange knack for it actually. Instead the skeleton man held out his hand toward her.

"Sans." He offered, Raven smiled—happy to have not offended him—and shook his hand. To her mild surprise she found that his fingers weren't cold but warm to the touch. She half expected them to be ice cold.

"Raven." She said, then pointed to Cherie. "and wet fur over here is Cherie."

Meow

"Sorry, Cherie _Curie._ " She corrected, then paused, "...He's particular about his name."

"Ah." the skeleton—Sans said, as if he understood, and maybe he did. Hell, for all Raven knew, Sans was just as used to monsters talking to cats as she was to...well everything.

"So Raven, what's a human doing in the Monster district?" He asked, turning back to the bar where Raven noticed he had a plan of fries—at least, she assumed they were fries, she couldn't really tell with the amount of ketchup on the plate. "We don't get a lot of humans here, meta or otherwise."

Cherie's ear twitched in annoyance as Raven sighed, propping her elbow on the bar and resting her head on her hand.

"Wasn't paying attention, and boarded the wrong bus." She sighed, "Then the downpour, and here I am. Waiting for the rain to clear so I can walk home."

"Why not take the bus back?" Sans asked. Raven dug into her pocket and set a soaked clump of paper on the bar.

"Because bus passes are made of paper, and water beats paper." She said plainly. "And started out such a good day."

"Looks like your ride home got all washed up." Sans said with a laugh. Raven blinked, then laughed.

"Oh God, that was a horrible pun." She said between giggles. Sans' grin grew as he began making more bad puns and jokes, all of which got at least some kind of laugh out of the blue haired girl, which only encouraged Sans to continue until an hour went by. Cherie's ears twitched in annoyance, he didn't really find the jokes very funny. Especially the ones at his expense(and Sans made a lot of them). After a while Cherie noticed that the rain had stopped. He jumped from the bar to the floor, getting Raven's attention, since she clearly wasn't listening to his voice. Raven looked out the window.

"Looks like the rain's stopped." She said standing. "I should get goin, don't wanna be caught in Gotham after dark."

"Sounds dangerous."

"Depends on your definition of dangerous is." Raven grumbled. Cherie hissed. "Alright already, we're goin."

"Thanks for the chat," She then said, giving a playful wink to Sans, who just responded with a grin. He watched as Raven walked off waving over her shoulder, "See ya round Bone Boy."

And with that, she exited Grillby's and headed home.

 **Good god this chapter ended up being 8 pages long! While writing this first chapter I also cursed myself for not being able to remember phrases and words. I also hate all the "He saids" and "She saids" they make me wanna hurl my laptop. Which is bad because this is technically a new laptop. Sorry this was so choppy, please bare with me as beginnings of stories. Also, I hope that I was able to give you a decent back story on Raven while at the same time not giving away too much. Anyhow if you made it this far, maybe you're willing to go a little farther and shoot me a review. I like constructive criticism as well as anything singing my praises (who doesn't?)**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

 **Welcome back everyone, I hope you all enjoyed my previous chapter. For those still confused about Raven, don't worry, all questions will be answered as the story unfolds. Quick reminder for those who are unaware, Raven Blu originated from a YJ fiction involving everyone's (my) favorite witchboy Klarion, I titled "Klarion Gets A Girl." This story had two squeals, "Dark beloved," and an alternative sequel which is still in progress called "What if?" This story's timeline is currently ahead of "What if?" So there will be mild spoilers, as I'm publishing this along side it. It won't be anything Major but it IS connected. Now with all that out of the way, ONWARD TO THE BATTLE FIELD!**

 _"Raven dearest if you do not get up this instant you are going to be late for work!"_ Cherie's voice howled inside Raven's mind. Raven groaned and rolled over, it was Tuesday morning and her body refused to move—of course she didn't exactly try—it wasn't that she hated working at the new and used bookstore, she just hated waking up early.

 _"It is not even that early Raven!"_ Cherie hissed, " _It is noon! Now, I am going to go downstairs, if you are not awake and out that door in five minutes, I will return up here and bite you awake."_

Raven groaned, Cherie acted more like her wife than her familiar. Still, she just wanted a few more minutes, the night prior she had rarely gotten any sleep. She'd been plagued with nightmares from back before she met Dr. Leland. All the destruction she caused, she would never be able to get over the things she did. The guilt would more than likely haunt her until she died. She sighed, then let out a yelp of pain as she felt a set of teeth on her Achilles heel. She shot up and threw the covers off to find Cherie sitting on the foot of her bed. She glared.

"That wasn't five minutes." She growled. Cherie only gave her an indifferent stare.

 _"If I had actually waited that long you would officially be running late."_ Cherie said plainly then hopped from the bed and out the door " _Two minutes Ravenna!"_

"You're worst than a mother Cherie!" She called after him. The only response she got from the white an black cat was the flick of his checkered tail as he exited the room. Groaning, Raven swung her legs over her bed and shuffled over to her closet. One of the great things about where she worked is that there was no uniform, her boss was pretty lenient as far as dress code, so long as Raven didn't come to work dressed like a prostitute—though judging by the looks of the customers you'd think she did anyway—she was fine. Though, her boss didn't really care for the way she dressed—not that Raven really cared.

She quickly pulled a long sleeved netted top over the black tank top she wore to bed that night, then searched for a pair of pants. She grunted as she searched through a sea of black for the specific pair she wanted, finally she gave up and grabbed a pair of slightly baggy Tripp jeans with suspender straps around the belt. She had gotten them at a thrift store by chance and she didn't especially care that they were actually for men. With a belt and platform boots they fit just fine. She didn't bother with much make up, only using using minimal eyeliner, purple shadow with dark blue lipstick on her lips. Running a brush through her long naturally blue hair she was done and downstairs she paused when she saw Cherie perched on her bookshelf.

"Cherie..." She began. She turned only to have the white and black feline pounce on her shoulders.

" _I will not do it."_ He grumbled. Raven made a face.

"You know Ms. Blake doesn't like cats." She said, then tapped on her wrist, "Come on."

" _It is hardly_ my _fault she has a cat allergy."_ The familiar hissed, Raven placed her hand on his head.

"Come on, Cherie. You know I won't keep you like that all day." She said, "Now come on, you don't want me to be late now do you."

With a low growl Cherie's body began to glow with a silver aura. He jumped from Raven's shoulders as his body contorted and changed form. His white fur turned into a silver metal as he turned into a metal band that wrapped around her wrist. A white cat face shaped charm dangled from it. Raven smirked, Cherie hated when she would transfigure him into an object—he complained it made his joints stiff—but it beat trying to lug him around in public and worry about him getting hurt.

"I'll turn you back once Ms. Blake leaves. Ok?" She said as she held up her wrist where the silver bangle was. She then looked at the clock, and swore. If she didn't leave now she was going to be late. Grabbing her bag she took off down thee street, cursing the fact she didn't own a bike.

~0~

"You're late, Blu." Ms. Blake's annoyingly high pitched voice shrieked. Raven rolled her eyes, she was supposed to be there by 12:30 to take over the register it was currently 12:03. She wasn't exactly punctual, but she'd hardly consider that to be late. Not punctual, but certainly not late.

"I'm sorry Ms. Blake," She lied, "My cat wanted to follow me to work."

Ms. Blake crinkled her mouse-like nose, she didn't like cats. Like Cherie said, she had an allergy toward them. Honestly if it wasn't for the fact that Ms. Blake couldn't afford to hire anyone else, Raven was sure she'd fire her just for having Cherie. Ms. Blake was a modest woman in her mid 40's. She wore a black and yellow polka dot top, and a strange white cotton skirt with a hideously large red decorative belt. She also may have been in her 40's but she didn't have any gray hair, it was bright orange and curly. Raven secretly assumed she dyed it. She wore bright red horn rimmed glasses in front of her light green—turning gray—eyes. Despite her own odd form of dress she always looked at Raven like she was a degenerate, of course it didn't help that Ms. Blake knew she was a meta-human.

"Well, it isn't with you is it?" She asked in disgust. Raven felt heat around her neck, she wasn't angry so much as annoyed. She gave a tight smiled and shook her head.

"No, _he_ isn't." She said, "Sorry, Ms. Blake, won't happen again."

Ms. Blake sighed, placing her hands on her hips. "See that it doesn't." she said as she walked toward the back of the store. She sneezed and mumbled about how Raven should have cleaned her clothes to get rid of the cat fur. Raven rolled her eyes as she took a deep breath to sooth her anger. Sort of helped that she was surrounded by books. The smell of books was always so soothing. New, used, modern, ancient, books were like the ultimate thing to cure her anger—well that and sugary, over caffeinated drinks.

She took her backpack off and took her spot behind the register. She didn't expect much business, people typically read books on kindles or some form of tablet—much to Raven's chagrin. So Raven sat on the stool that had a back to it. It wasn't the most comfortable chair, but it beat standing for eight hours...and it swiveled. She reached into her bag to grab the book she had been readings. Well it was more of a graphic novel rather than an actual book called "Wet Moon." she had happened upon it while working at the Worm hole—that was the name of the new and used book store—while stocking the shelves. The one she was reading was first in the series. As she sat and read through it Ms. Blake came walking back wearing a hideous plastic jacket. Raven looked up as she stood in front of the counter.

"Now Ravenna deary," She began as she fixed the white cotton neckerchief around her neck. Raven cut her eyes, it was one thing that Cherie called her things like "Raven deary," or "Ravenna" but it felt so, condescending when her boss said it. "I'm stepping out for a bit. Can you mind the store while I'm gone."

"Sure thing Ms. B." Raven answered honestly. Ms. Blake pursed her lips.

"Ms. B?" she repeated. Raven sighed.

"Sure thing Ms. Blake," She corrected. It was actually funny that Cherie didn't like her, considering how alike they were. Both tried to be prim and proper, and both of them were very particular about their name. "I'll keep a good watch on the store."

"Good, thank you Raven." Was all Ms. Blake answered with as she quickly headed out the door. Raven watched as she left and went down the street, once she saw her turn the corner the band around her wrist flashed and jumped onto the counter. Cherie let out a loud howl as he stretched, his black and white tail standing up in the air.

"Welcome back to the physical realm Cherie." Raven said as she took her book back out. Cherie grumbled.

" _I truly hate it when you do that."_ he complained. Raven shrugged, it's not like she could leave him at home. It was way too dangerous, she had made too many enemies who would have no problem killing Cherie which would result in killing Raven as well. Cherie sighed, " _I still do not like it."_

"Yeah well, you can hate it all you want, just complain off the counter." Raven said not looking up from her book, "Ms. Blake will kill me if your fur is on the counter."

As time passed a few people came into the store. Some browsed, some knew exactly what they were looking for, some asked for help and some Raven wished would stop asking for help. If Raven had a dollar for each time someone asked for that stupid 50 shades of gray book she wouldn't need to work. During the slow moments of the day Raven continued to read, it didn't take her long to finish it. She debated using the computer next to register to order the next book, but knew better. Ms. Blake would have gotten angry she used it for personal reasons. So instead she reached into her bag and pulled out a black journal. She had bought it from The Worm Hole before she started working there, it was a plain black fake leather journal. After Raven had purchased it she made it a point to infuse her aura with it, magically stamping it with her own personal glyph that she made. A silver colored vaguely feline shaped hexagram, it prevented anyone anyone from reading it. If anyone did manage to get their hands on it, they only thing they'd see is blank pages. It served as her magical grimoire for a while, she used it to write down the various spells and rituals she learned and made changes to. Now, however, it served as a regular journal and doodle pad. Raven traced the glyph with her finger tip as it began to glow, and on the once blank pages words appeared. She took out a pen, leaned back in the chair and began writing about the day before.

As Raven wrote she heard the bell above the door, without looking up from her notebook she responded in her best chipper employee voice, "Hello, welcome to the Worm Hole."

"HUMAN!" A loud voice shouted, causing Raven to jump and fall out of her chair onto the floor. She quickly got up and looked to see a rather tall skeleton standing in front of her. She stared wide eyed, not at his appearance, but the fact he didn't seem to have an inside voice. He continued, "I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM LOOKING FOR A BOOK!"

"Well, you're in luck, this is a bookstore." She said automatically as her expression returned to one of indifference while her voice held a hint of sarcasm in it. Papyrus grinned, clearly not noticing.

"I QUEST FOR A BOOK ON COOKING!"He elaborated enthusiastically. Raven smirked and let out short laugh.

"Cook books are down the isle behind you." She said, pointing to the aforementioned isle. Papyrus looked over his shoulder and clapped his hands together.

"WOWIE! THERE ARE SO MANY TO LOOK THROUGH! THANK YOU HUMAN!" He said, then quickly made his way down the isle. Raven let out another small laugh as she sat back in her chair and Cherie hopped up onto the counter.

"He's a lively one, don't ya think Cherie? _"_ Raven asked him.

 _"Lively is not the word I would use to describe this creature."_ He said licking his left paw and using it to groom the back of his ear. _"He could certainly stand to learn how to use his inside voice."_

"Not disagreeing with you there." She said as she picked her notebook up off the floor and began flipping through the old notes. Cherie sat next to her on the counter, staring down the isle Papyrus had gone.

" _Let us hope his enthusiasm for searching does not allow him to break anything."_ He said with a flick of his tail.

"If he does break anything, I'll just fix it before Ms. Blake gets back." Raven responded not looking up from her journal.

"Fancy seeing you here Raven." a familiar deep voice said. Raven jumped in surprise—but didn't fall out of her chair—as she looked up and saw San's standing across the counter from her. She blinked silently. She hadn't even heard the bell go off.

"Oh, um, hey Bone Boy." She said, "Sorry, I didn't see you there."

"I tend to be pretty quiet when I want to be." He said with a shrug and a smile. Raven nodded.

"So I see. I didn't even hear the bell above the door go off." She said leaning forward and resting her elbows on the counter. "Are you here looking for a book? Or just to browse?"

"Nah, I'm here with my brother." Sans explained as he put his hands in his pockets. "He was looking for a cook book. He likes to cook."

 _"Oh but of course the two would be related."_ Cherie groaned inside Raven's mind. _"You tell that creature that if his brother breaks anything you will not be held responsible for—"_

Raven interrupted the feline's complaining by placing the palm of her hand on Cherie's face, "Cherie, _please_. Give it a rest."

"What was that about?" Sans asked curiously, as his gaze flicked between the two. Raven looked up at him.

"Cherie's just leery of your brother's enthusiasm." She said, keeping her hand on the white and black cat's face. It didn't muffle his voice—since she could hear it in her head—but it certainly threw the witch's familiar off his train of thought. "He's worried we'll have to pay for something if it breaks."

"Nah, Papyrus is harmless." Sans explained, "He's just a goofball."

"Oh he's fine. Loud, but fine." Raven said. Cherie let out a low growl, "Cherie's just doesn't like sudden loud noises."

 _"That is not—"_

"Your cat sounds like a real...Sourpuss." Sans joked. Cherie let out a loud howl of annoyance at the terrible pun. It was soon followed by another loud groan from further inside the store, this caused Raven to laugh.

"Yeah, my bro doesn't much care for my jokes either." Sans said, noting Cherie and Papyrus' responses. "But I think he just lost his funny bone back in Snowdin."

"Ha. No one appreciates a good joke anymore." She said, "That funny bone of yours might actually end up saving your life around here."

"Huh?"

"You don't get out of the GMD much do you?" Raven asked, this time with a slight look of concern. Sans shook his head.

"Not if I can help it much. Papy and I only moved here cause it wasn't far from our home town in the underground." He answered honestly. Raven bit her lip.

"Well, I'll be honest, you'd have been better off choosing Metropolis to take up roots in. Gotham City—as great as it is—is better known for its crazies." She said placing her notebook to her bag. ' _I should know. I used to be one of them'_ she thought as she returning her gaze to Sans. "The GCPD does it's best to keep everything safe, but it doesn't always work. So, if you meet a man with green hair who calls himself the Joker, the best way to get out is to tell him a joke."

"Is he a meta-human like you?" Sans asked, cocking a nonexistent eyebrow at Raven who pursed her lips in thought.

"There's been some debate over that. Whether or not the Clown Prince of Crime is meta." She answered, mindlessly fiddling with the large golden ankh as she sat back, "But is he like me? No. Not even close."

"Well, I didn't figure that. The way you describe the guy he sounds like he might be a few fries short of an order." Sans said. Raven flinched. She tried not to take too much offense to that considering only a year ago she had sat only one cell down from The Joker when she was in Arkham. The cell that sat between them was Harley's. She remembered how Harley would talk on and on about how they had made a special exception for her to have cell next to him. It even had a plate glass wall that allowed her to talk to her 'Puddin.'

"Uh...Raven?" Sans' voice sounded, snapping Raven back to reality, she shook her head to get rid of the memory.

"Sorry what?"

"You ok?" Sans then asked, leaning on the counter to get a closer look at the dark skinned Goth girl. Raven nodded quickly as she noticed even Cherie had broken away from his vigilant watch over Papyrus in the Cook book isle.

"Uh yeah...yeah I'm fine. Sorry, I uh, I spaced out. Sorry." She said frantically. She looked to see a look of concern on the pudgy skeleton's face as his eyes searched her. Or through her really by the look and feel of it. It sent a brief shiver down her spine as she felt like Sans was looking past her, into her soul. His eyes then met hers, and his smile returned.

"Just checking." He said, "So this Joker, he sounds like a real clown."

"Heh. That's the joke." She laughed, knowing this time that his pun was unintentional. "He's a lunatic with a twisted sense of humor."

"So, if you don't mind my asking this time." Sans began, "What inhuman ability do you have?"

Raven was about to tell him it was still too soon for her to give out that kind of info to him, when she suddenly saw a familiar head of orange hair walking back toward the shop. Without even thinking she snapped her fingers, causing Cherie's body to reform back into the silver band around her wrist just as Ms. Blake re-entered the building. She stopped abruptly when she saw Sans still leaning on the counter, still staring at Raven.

Raven looked back at him and quickly placing her index finger to her lips in a silent 'please don't say anything' as her boss walked further in, and sneezed. She then presumed to mumbled about Raven's cat.

"Have you been helped sir?" She asked Sans who stood up straight.

"Oh, I'm not here looking for anything." He said, Raven didn't have to see Ms. Blake to know that she was now looking down her nose at him. There was a small platform behind the counter so it made it easier for her to look taller.

"Then I will have to ask you to—"

"He came in with another customer, he's waiting on them." Raven interrupted as she looked up at her boss.

"Raven, it's rude to interrupt." She said. Raven felt her neck grow hot and rolled her eyes.

' _So is discrimination Ms. Blake."_ She thought to herself. She knew that her boss wasn't all that fond of the Monster folk, she recalled the day it was announced that Gotham City was opening their own Monster District. Short version, Ms. Blake wasn't fond of the idea then, and still wasn't now. Raven's thoughts were interrupted by Papyrus coming back to the counter.

"SANS! I FOUND A BOOK ON MAKING DIFFERENT TYPES OF PASTA!" He shouted, surprising Ms. Blake.

"Good lord boy, are you incapable of using your inside voice?" She hissed as she covered her chest, as if to stop her heart from racing. Papyrus paused, suddenly feeling uncomfortable as Ms. Blake glared at him. Raven, sensing the tension and annoyance behind her boss's voice, spoke up.

"Ms. Blake, Shipping stopped by. Think they made a shipment error on those books you ordered." She said to Ms. Blake who scowled down at her, completely ignoring the two skeleton brothers.

"Well, did you stop them?" She asked with a clipped tone. Raven shook her head.

"I tried, but they insisted it was right." She said, "I figured if it was wrong, a call from the Boss lady would be enough to get their asses in gear and correct it."

Raven watched as her boss briskly walked to the back of the store, to check the shipping error. Once she was out of ear shot she looked to the two brothers.

"Just ignore her, she's that way towards everyone." She said gently. To her surprise the once louder of the two was still quiet. Raven looked to the book in the skeleton's hands. "Do you want that?"

"Paps likes to cook." Sans said, answering for the suddenly shy monster. Raven nodded, then quickly looked over the counter to check if the room was clear.

"Well, you go ahead and take it." She said as she sat down "Consider it an apology for my boss."

"WOWIE THANK YOU HUMAN!" Shouted Papyrus. Raven shrugged.

"Don't mention it," She said as Papyrus walked out of the store clutching the cookbook, Sans looked to Raven with surprise. Raven looked back and laughed, "Seriously don't, she'll be lecturing for hours if she finds out."

"Won't you get fired for that?" Sans asked, Raven shook her head.

"Not if she doesn't find out." She said propping her elbow on the counter and placing her chin in her hand. "So let's keep this secret kay?"

Raven gave him a wink, and she swore she saw what looked like a faint blueish color spread across Sans' cheek bones. "We'll call it even. Since my cat got you all wet yesterday."

"Yaknow, you're all right." he said then turned to leave. He stopped and looked over his shoulder at Raven. "Are you doing anything later?"

"Sadly I'm here until closing." She said plainly. She knew what he was doing, and while, it would certainly be nice to talk to someone—especially someone who didn't know about her past—it seemed strange. Rave had been screwed over too often by people she thought she could trust, and while Sans seemed like a nice guy, all her previous betrayals left her a little paranoid. So instead she chose to shrug him off rather than make a new friend. Leland probably wouldn't like that much, and would probably say that Raven was still letting her past effect her future, but it was better than getting hurt in the end. And worst of all, she actually felt guilty about it, as she saw the disappointed look on his face. However, it quickly changed back into a grin as he shrugged and walked out the door.

"Well, have a _magical_ time working then." He said, then left. Raven waved a halfhearted goodbye before she paused. Her heart raced as she jumped over the counter and ran outside.

"What did you say?" She shouted, only to see that the skeleton brothers had disappeared. Sans' departing words echoing in her head. One word in particular stood out. "Magical."

~0~

"Raven, I think you're being paranoid." Leland said as Raven explained the details of the before. She shook her head.

"That's a hell of a thing for a therapist to say." She snapped, as she nervously dug her black painted nails into the upholstery of the chair she sat in. She scowled at the Good Doctor as she felt her anger rising and with it the burning sensation around her neck. Dr. Leland scowled back at her.

"I say that because I think that you are; You're allowing a word paint your vision of this person—sorry monster person, all wrong." She explained as she sat calmly behind her desk.

"I'm not wrong. Everything feels off." Raven said as she stood, forcing Cherie off her lap. Cherie grumbled and took Raven's place in the chair as she moved behind said chair and began to pace. "I don't think he's who he says he is."

"And who do you think he is Raven?" Leland asked as she watched Raven walk back and forth running her hand through her hair while her other hand picked at her bottom lip. Smearing her fingers with black lipstick.

"There's only one person who would pretend to be someone else to get to me..." Raven mumbled as she rested the hand that was previously combing through her hair on the back of her neck.

"And they are..?" Leland pressed, though she already knew who Raven had in mind.

"Klarion." She hissed as she turned to face Leland and slammed both hands against the back rest of the chair she had been sitting in. Cherie jumped in surprise, while Leland only sighed.

"Raven, I'm going to need you to calm down." She said.

"I can't calm down!" Raven shouted the heat around her neck rising with her temper, "It wouldn't be the first time he's done it! He's pretended to be someone else twice, so why wouldn't he—"

"Miss Blu, I will ask you one more time to _calm_ _down_ before I call security." Leland said interrupted. Raven stopped and looked to the doctor as the Good Doctor then said sternly, "Breathe."

"I'm sorry." Raven mumbled as she took a deep breath and imagined her anger melting away. As her anger began to cool so too did the gold metal collar around her neck. She then picked up Cherie and sat back down. Raven looked down at the black mary jane platform shoes she had chosen to wear that day and repeated, "I'm sorry."

Dr. Leland let out a breath, "Now. Raven, I want you to explain to me calmly, what makes you think this Sans person is just Klarion in disguise."

"I...I don't know..."She mumbled, holding Cherie close as he purred reassuring her that everything was OK. She then looked up and Dr. Leland and said, "M-maybe...maybe you're right. And I am paranoid. After all, it's been a while since I saw the devil haired bastard."

Dr. Leland said nothing merely nodded as Raven continued.

"I mean, why would he show up all of a sudden now right?" She asked with a nervous laugh "I mean, I went through literal hell and back to get away from him. And christ, I doubt he'd take up the form of a pudgy skeleton to get my attention. He's way too full of himself to do that."

"Well, I'm glad to see you reason that out for yourself Raven." Leland said with a small smile, "You shouldn't allow your past to effect the here and now."

"Yaknow, I had a feeling you'd say that." Raven laughed, finally calming down. Leland laughed in return and shook her head before folding her hands together and looking at the young goth woman.

"Well I stand by what I say." She said, "You've changed a lot since you first stepped foot into my office. I'd say it's for the better too."

"I don't know about that." Raven muttered, "I'm still angry as ever."

"I believe that comes from not mingling with other people." Dr. Leland said as she adjusted her glasses, "I recommend you get out of your house for something other than work and our weekly sessions and meet people."

"How? Everyone within the four major cities knows who I am. And if on some small off chance they don't It's not as though there are people just dying to meet a girl who dresses like I do." Raven said waving her hand over herself. As usual she was dressed in all black. This time in a black and dark blue tartan skirt with a set of handcuffs hanging from its belt loops and a black semi-backless shirt that tied around her neck and her upper back with a purple bat decorating the front.

"You mentioned before that this Sans didn't have much of a reaction." Leland offered. "I'm not saying that you should change who you are Raven, but you really should change how you look at people. And I think this Sans you mentioned would be a perfect start."

"...Maybe..." Was all Raven could muster up for a response.

"You took a chance and walked to your session last week and that turned out well." Leland reminded her. "You never know. This skeleton person may end up becoming a good friend to you."

"If I ever see him again." Raven mumbled. Leland laughed.

"You've seen him twice so far, these things often come in threes." She said as she stood, Raven followed suit, "If you haven't managed to run into him by our next session, then I'll admit defeat. How's that?"

Raven laughed as she and Leland walked to the door of her office, "Sure thing Doc. See you next week."

 _"I would have to agree with the good doctor on this one Raven dearest."_ Cherie purred from Raven's shoulders as they walked down the stairs of the building Dr. Leland's office occupied. Raven cocked an eyebrow.

"On which part Cherie?" She asked as she reached the landing of the second floor.(leland's office was on the third) Cherie flicked his tail as he wrapped it around her neck.

" _The part of you being paranoid."_ he said plainly, Raven scowled. " _Think about it for a moment, Raven dearest. If it were Klarion in disguise, do you not think you would have been able to sense his presence?"_

"Fate's collar screws with my magic Cherie. Who knows what all I'm missing out on besides casting offensive spells." She grumbled. She really hated Nabu for placing that collar on her, in fact she had been quite vehement about not having it placed on her, by someone she hated. The Justice league had tried everything they could to get her to cooperate, but to no avail. In the end it was Giovanni Zatara (Zatanna's father, who was still at that time possessed by Nabu's Helmet of Fate.)who managed to talk her into it. It had also been Giovanni who placed the collar on her.

" _Raven lovely, even if that were the case, there was no snooty companion."_ Cherie purred. Raven stopped as she reached the first floor. The magical familiar had a point, even if Klarion had changed his form to trick her, he still needed his familiar. Teekl was always a dead give away, he couldn't never stray too far from his master. He was the focal point to his being in Gotham. Without him Klarion would be thrown back to whatever he came from. So then, Sans really _couldn't_ be Klarion in disguise.

 _"Precisely. There is nothing to fear my dear."_ He said nuzzling Raven's face. She smiled happily.

"There's still no guarantee I'll see him again." Raven said as she looked to Cherie and pushed the door open. She hadn't been paying attention as she walked out, she was just so happy all of a sudden, having come to the conclusion on her own—well with the help of Cherie. She hadn't been paying attention to where she was going, until she collided with something and landed on the floor. She let out a groan of annoyance as she sat up, holding her head. Suddenly annoyed she felt the collar around her neck heat up.

"Watch where—"

"You ok?" a familiar voice questioned, Raven stopped and looked up to see a familiar grin.

"S-sans?"

"Hey Raven, fancy bumping into you." He said then laughed at his own terrible pun as he held out his hand to help her stand. "What're you doin' here?"

"I could ask you the same thing." She said as she stood. Cursing the Good Doctor for jinxing her. If she didn't know any better she would have sworn this had been set up, "I thought you didn't get out of the GMD much?"

"I'm working." He said, "Paps has been hounding me to get off my lazy bones."

Raven stared for a moment, contemplating. It couldn't be a coincidence that Sans just so happened to show up at the building she received therapy from. She debated asking what he did, when she noticed he actually had some kind of a uniform on. She used the term lightly as it just consisted of a white T-shirt that read "Dick's Market delivery*."

 _"So he is a delivery boy? How amusing."_ Cherie laughed. Raven ignored him as she stood silently.

"Uh, Raven?" Sans called, snapping Raven from her train of thought.

' _Oh fuck it.'_ she said to herself as she decided to take another risk. She then asked shyly, "Hey, uh, Sans...are you doing anything later?"

 **Wow, I'm actually surprised I've had two long chapters in a row. Usually they're pretty short. So just to clarify, (GMD) stands for Gotham Monster District. I didn't know if I had covered that or not as for (*) There's actually a store called Dick's Market in my home town. I don't think they do deliveries though. I haven't been to that store since my high school days. Maybe I should take a trip down there at some point. Anyway if you've come this far, maybe you'll be willing to do a little farther. Leave a review telling me what you think of my story, even if it's negative criticism. Reviews are what keep these stories alive, so don't be shy and I'll see you next time!**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

 **So I've managed to crank out 3 chapters within the span of a weekend. I'm actually pretty surprised by this, seeing how I usually start a story wait for reviews and see how it goes from there. This time, however, I've decided to type up the three chapters before even publishing it as a new story on here. I wonder if that's how I should tackle the other stories I have on here. Honestly I have so many unfinished stories on my profile. They're unfinished for various reasons, sometimes it's a lack of reviews to motivate me, sometimes it's a lowering amount of interest and inspiration, and others I just sort of finished the source material prematurely. That's what happened to my Durarara story. But with young justice I think I'll be fine, especially since it's getting a third season finally on netflix. Anyway I've held you here long enough lets get right into it shall we? ONWARD TO THE BATTLE FIELD!**

Raven sat at home watching TV. She barely remembered the walk home let alone when she even turned the TV on. She had asked Sans only hours before if he was free later that day, after bumping into him—literally—at her therapist's office. Right after the Good Doctor had advised her to try and make a new friend. It was as if the universe had gone out of its way to have Raven continue to bump into him until she finally got the hint. To her surprise he'd actually taken her up on her offer to hang out.

She stared at the screen, not really paying attention to what was on. Some cartoon old series about the Batman. A few years ago she may have been inclined to actually watch it but she couldn't be bothered to do so now for various reasons. One of which had to do with the fact she didn't much care for the old bat anymore, after squaring off against him and his bat family. She'd nearly killed two of his "Bat brats"—as Gotham's underbelly so affectionately called them—on more than one occasion, so the idea of a cartoon show about them left much to be desired from Raven. The other reason she couldn't be bothered to pay attention was that she was extremely nervous. It had been a very long time since she had made friends. The last few times she had attempted to make friends it had blown in her face—sometimes literally—and she was worried about how things would turn out this time.

"Good God I've fucked up a lot." She said aloud to herself as she thought about all the times she'd managed to screw up relationships. **Once with another magic user—not counting the time she was tricked by Uriah of limbo town—again with another magic user, this time Zatanna's cousin—Raven hadn't known it at the time, and well lets just say it was one of the more literal explosions in her life—and again with a literal God. Then there was those times with a few normal humans, one of them turned tail and bolted when he found out she could do magic, the other had used it to act out a sick fantasy that involved Zatanna.** Then there was her relationship with Zatanna herself. The two had once been close friends, though at the time Raven was unaware of Zatanna being a hero, or that she could do magic. It had been what caused their falling out.

All those encounters had one thing in common, her. Now back then during those times she had blames the other party, back then nothing was her fault. However, after some time back in therapy, she had reflected and her attitude had done a 180. Yes, she still blamed others for how they reacted, but sometimes she felt that it had all been her fault and until now she was perfectly fine not having friends to rely on. Not having them meant not having to worry about hurting or being hurt.

Cherie mewed from the back of the couch trying to get Raven's attention, she didn't respond however, and kept dwelling/ She wanted so badly for this to end well, Sans seemed nice and maybe Leland was right and maybe Sans would end up becoming a good friend. Still though, she was worried.

Cherie continued for some time, trying to get his master's attention before he finally had enough and pounced onto her stomach. Raven let out a yelp of surprise as she looked down at the white and black cat. He looked back at her, the two black spots above his eyes made him look as though he was scowling. Which he was.

"The hell Cherie?" Raven hissed as she sat up. Cherie sat up straight draping his black and white checkered tail over his paws.

" _If you are not careful what you are envision will become a self fulfilling prophecy."_ he said with the twitch of his ears. Raven frowned causing Cherie to sigh as he continued, " _What I mean is that if you keep assuming things will end badly, they will."_

"I know what you meant Cherie." She retorted, grabbing Cherie and placing him back on his spot on the back of his couch. "That doesn't stop me from being nervous. I've never been all that good at making friends."

" _You have done well so far, Raven lovely."_ Cherie purred as he nuzzled Raven's cheek. Raven was about to respond when she suddenly felt violated. The kind of feeling one would get after entering your room after someone went in without your knowledge. She stood, knowing full well what it was. She had placed charms and glyphs in and around the entire house. Simple things that wouldn't be noticed by those without magic, and regarded as inconsequential by those who did have it. They were better than any security system money could by, and the best part it didn't require much magic to make them. They weren't warding spells so much as alarms, they would give off a small feeling like the one she just felt.

Raven breathed, trying to keep her heart beat calm as she conjured up black and silver bolts of electricity between her fingers. It did no good however, as she cast her spell they sparked for a moment, only to fizzle out. Raven grumbled angrily as she felt her collar heat up, eventually she just gave up and marched up the stairs where he glyph had gone off. She stopped at her parents bedroom door. Of course they would have had to pick her parent's old bedroom. She hadn't been in there in some time. Never bothered to move anything, never felt right.

Silently she opened the door, and came face to face with one of the few people she wanted to see in the world. Batman's oldest brat, Nightwing. Raven glared as her neck suddenly felt as if it were on fire.

"Yaknow, I _have_ a front door." She hissed, as she pawed at her magical restraints. Wishing so intensely that she didn't have it so she could make the hero's skin match his suit; black and blue. Nightwing turned to face Raven as she crossed her arms, and tried—and failed—to calm down.

"I didn't think you'd answer if I went through the front door." He said sarcastically. Raven let out a laugh that was saturated in sarcasm.

"I'd have answered." She spat, "But I also would take _great_ joy in slamming it in your face."

"Now that's not nice." Nightwing cracked, Raven slammed the side of her first against the wall to her right.

"The _hell_ are you doing in my house?" She growled, eyes glowing red as her neck felt like it had a ring of lava around her neck. Nightwing scowled.

"See that temper hasn't changed." he said plainly. Raven stomped towards him.

"What. Do. You. _WANT_?" she shouted.

"I heard your former friends are on the run again." Nightwing said accusingly. Raven scowled, he was talking about Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy. She used to run around with them before being incarcerated in Arkham with them after a long illegal shopping spree. She had also tried to kill Nightwing twice during her stay with the two villianesses. Raven scowled.

"What exactly are you implying?" She asked through gritted teeth. Cherie hissed at Nightwing as he stood between the two.

"You were late getting to your session last week." Nightwing pointed out, Raven narrowed her eyes at him.

"Not even five minutes. And I was late because I _walked_ to my therapy session that day." She snapped, "The buses were late. So I decided to take the Good Doctors advice and walked."

"And you were late getting home." He added. Raven's eyes widened then narrowed into crimson daggers. It took a lot in her not to scream from the burning sensation around her neck she was so angry. She was very sure that she would be treated for burns before this encounter was over.

"I was stuck in Gotham's Monster District." She said with a clipped tone, "I got stuck in a down pour and the rain soaked my bus pass to the point of uselessness. I waited out the downpour there. There were plenty of witnesses."

"What were you doing there?"

"I got on the wrong bus."

"And where did you say you waited out the rain?" Nightwing asked, Raven rolled her eyes.

"Harley and Ivy aren't here." She hissed, "And just how the hell did you know I was late getting home? What does the justice league have nothing better to do than to stalk a girl with anger issues?"

"Don't even pretend like you're just a normal person with anger management problems." Nightwing said, pointing accusingly at her. "You've done enough damage that you should have been in Arkkham for life."

"Yeah well, I did my time., and still am." Raven said crossing her arms as she glared up the masked hero. "And I have no idea where Harley and Ivy are. So if you don't mind, leave. I happen to have plans."

"Doing what?"

"None of your business. Now get out of my house!" She snapped, then turned to leave only for Nightwing to grab her by the arm. He glared down at him.

"It _is_ my business when you're the only person who they'd turn to for help while running from the law." He said.

"For your information, bat brat," Raven said as she went to jerk her arm out of his grip, only to find he wasn't letting go, she glared, "Neither Ivy, nor Harley have contacted me since I came back to Gotham. And they wouldn't hide here even if they had."

"And I'm supposed to believe you why?"

"Because, and you can even ask ask her yourself if you find them, Ivy doesn't want me to end up like them. Get the picture?" She snapped, and that was the honest true. After they had been arrested, and sent to Arkham she had expressed how because of her being so young she still had a chance to lead a relatively normal life. After that Raven decided to get the help she needed to stop being so angry, and rehabilitate her, that was when Harley and Ivy had dropped ties. Of course they had their run ins but nothing more than coincidences as they robbed, knocked over, or otherwise continued to be a nuisance to society and the bat family.

"Where are you going Raven?" Nightwing asked sternly, loosening his grip on Raven in a sign of good faith. She ripped his arm from his grip and crossed her arms over her chest.

"If it will make you _leave_ , fine. I'm meeting a friend." She said. Nightwing made a face.

"You don't _have_ friends." he said crossing his arms. Raven flipped him off.

" _Screw_ _you_ birdboy! I don't need your shitty input on my life." She said. If there was anything that was going to to cause her to relapse into her former rampaging self it would be Nightwing's shitty attitude towards her. From her feet she heard Cherie growl loudly.

" _Merely think it, and I will tear this man's innards out, Raven my dear."_ He growled, his fur on his back standing on end. Raven took a deep breath and tried hard to calm down.

"No, Cherie." She breathed surprisingly able to calm herself. "He's not worth it." she said, glaring at Nightwing, who stood tall, and kept his almost batman like scowl. "He certainly not worth losing my only chance at normalcy.

Now if you'd be so kind as to _leave."_ She continued, plucking Cherie from the ground, "I haven't spoken to either of them, and you have no reason to be here. So you can tell you boss—"

"Partner."

"Yeah birdboy, keep telling yourself that." Raven laughed, "You can tell _him_ I have no idea where they are."

"If that's the case, then you'll have nothing to hide while I search your house." He said. Raven went to object but then threw her hands up, causing Cherie to move to her shoulders.

"If it will get you to leave, _fine_." She said turning to leave. "Just stay out of my room."

"Is there something in your room you don't want me to see?" He asked suspiciously. Raven looked over her shoulder.

"Yeah asshole. Me. Naked. Because, like I said three times now I have plans to meet a friend." She said, "So unless you want to see me naked while I'm getting ready. Stay the hell out of my bed room."

She didn't bother to hear his response as she stomped out her parents room slamming the door behind her.

" _I am so proud of you my dear!"_ Cherie purred rubbing his face against the side of her head.

"For what?" Raven asked as she walked to her room, closing the door and locking it twice. Once with magic, and again with an actual lock. The collar around her neck still gave off the burning sensation from her anger, but it wasn't as hot, oh it still felt like there was a ring of fire around her neck, but it wasn't as bad as it had been when she first saw Nightwing in her parents house. Cherie hopped from Raven's shoulder to her bed as she walked to her closet. A quick show would calm her down. Hopefully.

 _"I had presented you with the opportunity to use me Raven dearest, instead you chose not to."_ He purred loudly from Raven's bed, " _I am most proud of you for being able to calm yourself, despite our mutual hatred for the masked vigilante."_

Raven said nothing as she gathered a new set of clothes. She decided to go with a black romper dress, with a zippers on the chest, and a sewn in belt with metal buckle . With it she grabbed a pair of black over the knee high socks. After that she headed to her bathroom and cranked up her stereo and blasted Type-O Negative. In the hopes she could drive away the feeling of violation Nightwing was setting off as he searched her house. She also hopped it would annoy him enough to leave.(though she highly doubted it.)

She didn't take long, she was out of her bathroom and dressed by the time she heard the click of her door's lock. Raven scowled, this was why she used magic locks as well as regular ones. Thankfully she was dressed, but she made no motion to break her magical lock.

"Raven, open the door." She heard Nightwing say on the other side of the door as he tried—and failed—to open the door. Raven rolled her eyes as she equipped a pair of black arm warmers that reached her elbow. They had silver buckles decorating them. She ignored the hero as he said, "I know you can hear me. The pipes in your house shake when the water is running."

She still didn't acknowledge him as she thought about her outing with Sans. What would they talk about? If he asked her about Cherie what should she say? What could she ask him? It had been so long since she talked to someone who wasn't on the wrong side of the law.

"Yaknow, Raven," Nightwing said still trying the door, "You can't leave any other way but through here."

"I have a window." Raven responded matter-o-factly. It wasn't lost on her either, how normal this all was to her. She groaned, she was never going to live like a normal person at this rate.

"You're making yourself seem even more guilty you know." He said, "Open the door! You know I'm not going to let you leave until I know you're telling the truth. So either open the door or I _will_ break it down."

Raven felt her collar warm up again as she rolled her eyes in disgust. With the snap of her fingers the door flung open, revealing the Black and Blue clad hero. Raven turned and sat on her bed as she put on her black platform marryjanes. Once finished she sat and glared Nightwing as he searched her room. He stopped when he finally looked at her.

"So this is a date?" He asked. Raven glared.

"Still none of your business." she said with an even tone. She knew why he was asking, it wasn't just to see if she was lying. No doubt Zatanna was still asking about her whereabouts. Last time she had seen Zatanna she was in Arkham. Back then she told her former friend that she didn't want her in her life anymore. She knew it had hurt her, and even then she knew she wouldn't be gone forever. She and Nightwing were close. Close enough that Zatanna had asked the bat brat to keep an eye on her.

Raven looked up at her bat shaped clock then stood, "As you can see, they're not here. So if you'll excuse me. I'm leaving."

"Fine, but expect to see more of me until they're found." Nightwing said, Raven rolled her eyes, "And if you're lying—"

"Why, would I risk going back to Arkham by lying?" She interrupted placing her hands on her hips. Behind her Cherie hissed. Nightwing narrowed his eyes, searching her face.

"If you're lying, Ravenna," He continued, Raven seethed, "It won't be Arkham you get locked up at. It'll be Belle Reve."

Raven laughed as she pushed past him, "If you think Belle Reve penitentiary scares me, you clearly haven't been paying attention the past several years."

Without waiting for a response Raven left with Cherie close on her heels. She locked, and magically locked the house behind her, fully aware that Nightwing was going to do a much more thorough search of the house, and would more than likely leave the same way he got in. She sighed, and hoped Harley wouldn't be foolish enough to try and contact her. With Ivy she knew she'd be fine, but Harley? Well, for a former psychiatrist, she wasn't very bright. As much as she loved Harley—like a sister—she just didn't like how stupid she acted sometimes. Especially when it came to the Joker.

 _"The last thing you need, my dear, is for either of them to come into contact with you."_ Cherie huffed as he followed his master who smirked. It wasn't that Cherie hated either of the two, he just didn't want to ruin all the progress Raven had made. Leaving Klarion behind for good, voluntarily going through the steps it would take to get her life back on track, all of that. As far as the Justice League was concerned if she did anything that was even slightly bad Raven would be locked back up. No probation, no rehabilitation, nothing. It was fair to say that it was like walking on eggshells with the group of heroes.

"It's not gonna happen." Raven said, "Ivy's not gonna screw me over like that. She acted more like a mother to me than my real mom."

 _"I still find that odd."_

"It is odd." Raven confirmed as she walked down the street towards the bus stop. She had agreed to meet Sans at the boarder between Gotham and its Monster District, from there they agreed to just play it by ear and see where the evening took them. Once the bus arrived Raven went to get on, when she was stopped by the driver.

"What's the problem?" She asked as she stood on the bus steps. The bus driver—a husky man in his late 30's—pointed to Cherie Curie who sat atop Raven's shoulders.

"No pets." he said in a gruff voice as he eyed Raven.

"He's not a pet. I have him for therapeutic purposes." She explained, and it was relatively the truth. Cherie often times helped calm her down from her bouts of anger. Raven placed her hand on Cherie's head as the driver narrowed his eyes at her.

"Do you have a doctors note?" he asked. Raven felt her collar burn.

"Who the hell keeps a doctors note on them every time they go somewhere?" She asked, then let out an agitated breath, "Look fine, if its that much of a problem," She snapped her fingers changing Cherie into a silver cat shaped arm band that formed around her upper arm. "There see, cat's gone."

"Get off my bus!" The driver shouted, causing all the chatter from the other commuters to stop, and their attention snap to Raven who glared and tried to ignore them.

"Why?" She snapped back to the driver. He pointed to her and glared.

"I'm not letting some meta-human freak on my bus!" He shouted.

"I'm not meta!" She hissed, the metal collar burning her skin. The driver stood, putting the bus in park.

"Either you get off my bus willingly, or I call the GCPD." He said.

"You can't do that! I haven't done anything wrong!" Raven protested, the heat rising around her neck. She wasn't going to move until the bus driver grabbed her by the arm and shoved her off, causing Raven to lose balance and fall backwards. She didn't hit ground thanks to Cherie who suddenly appeared as a large saber tooth cat and caught her before she hit her head on the cement sidewalk. Raven looked up and watched as the driver closed the doors and sped off. Tears pricked Raven's eyes as they threatened to fall, she was just so angry. The collar around her neck feeling the same as when she saw Nightwing in her house. She stood as Cherie morphed back into his normal form.

" _Raven dearest, do not take his words. He is a foolish human."_ he mewed softly as he looked up at his master who said nothing. Not only was she angry about being kicked off the bus, but now she was going to be late meeting Sans. She suddenly wished she had gotten his number so she could explain that she'd be late. Now he'd probably think she blew him off.

" _I am sure that he will understand Raven lovely."_ Cherie mewed. Raven sighed as she clenched and unclenched her fists trying to calm down. _"We will never know until we go see for ourselves."_

"Yeah." Raven seethed, "Maybe."

~0~

Sans waited on a cement bench as he waited for Raven. He looked at the large digital clock that was mounted to the Gotham City Bank, she was late. He wondered for a moment if he should have asked for her cell number or something. He also sincerely hoped that he wasn't being stood up. Though it wasn't as like it was a date. Was it weird to think of it that way? He shook his head, it didn't really matter.

He sat there for almost an hour waiting. Mostly because he didn't feel like moving just yet, and also because he wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt. After all they had met because she had gotten on the wrong bus. Who knows maybe the same thing happened again this time she ended up on a different side of the city. First impression wise, he had to admit, Raven seemed to be a bit out of her head sometimes. Sans wondered briefly why that was.

After another half hour past Sans stood to leave only to have a small white and black cat pounce on him from behind. He looked up as Cherie jumped from his back and morphed into a pointed eared man with white hair that had two black streaks above his eyes. He sat Indian style in front of Sans who scowled.

" _My apologies, my skeleton friend."_ He said then pointed in the direction directly behind Sans, " _But my master is not a fan of running."_

Sans stood and looked behind him, seeing Raven with on hand on the cement bench, catching her breath. The cat was right, she really wasn't a fan. She breathed heavily holding her hand up in a silent "Give me a minute," sign. Sans laughed as Raven stood up straight and Cherie returned to normal and sat on the bench between them.

"Ho-my God I hate running!" She shouted breathlessly. Sans laughed again. "Sorry, I got kicked off the bus, had to walk here. And sorry, for Cherie, I asked him to get your attention. I didn't think he'd tackle you."

"Not the weirdest way people have gotten my attention." He said, then finished with a, "Though I didn't expect to be Cat-called."

Raven sat down and laughed, "Nice. You mind if we just chill here for a sec? I've been walking for ours."

"So what happened?" Sans asked. Raven sighed.

"It's a complicated story."

 **I'm actually surprised I keep writing such long chapters for this. I'm waiting for the ball to drop and I end up posting a 3 page chapter. It's gonna happen, I just know it. I can feel it in my Goth Bones. Haha. Anyway the paragraph in bold face at the beginning. These things haven't happened yet in the main story Raven comes from. So I probably should have mentioned before but yeah this is gonna have some spoilers. Hopefully nothing major, only time will tell since I'm playing this by ear. Well if you've come this far, maybe you're willing to go a little farther. Leave a review I'm always happy to hear from my readers.**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

 **I'm amazed at my sudden ability to continue my story without resting. Lately I've been up at 3 or 4 am, and while it's normal for me, being a creature of the night(ha) but ever since I started this facfiction thing years ago, I haven't had as much inspiration. I'm also kinda annoyed, I started playing Undertale, and sadly with my new computer after hours and days playing and coming sooo close to beating it on Pacifist run, I have to start over. I BLAME YOU GOAT DAD! But anyway I'm over it, I have the opportunity to play and look through other things. I've already found 3 items I didn't see from thee last time. Really cool anyhow I'm all out of time here so ONWARD TO THE BATTLE FIELD!**

Raven explained what happened to her with the bus, the reason she was late. Conveniently leaving out her encounter with Nightwing, (It was really a low priority topic for someone she was still testing the waters with).

"That's rough kiddo." Sans said, Raven shrugged.

"Technically I'm not even a Meta-human." She admitted. Sans cocked his head to the side.

"Not what you said at Grillby's." He pointed out Raven nodded as she pet Cherie who was now sitting on her lap.

"I said that Meta-human is a blanket term. Used for anyone who shows an inhuman ability." She said with a smirk, she then stood, "Magic isn't exactly something exclusive to a select few. Anyone can do it."

"Monsters do it all the time." Sans said nonchalantly. Raven turned and raised her eyebrows in surprise, suddenly something clicked in her head.

"Wait a second," She said as she recalled what he said when he left the bookstore the day before,"You knew didn't you?"

Sans shrugged, "I had a feeling."

"You didn't say anything?" She asked. She didn't really understand. In her experience those who knew something about her or anyone would normally use it against them. People were unable to keep such secrets to themselves without something in return. Instead Sans shrugged again.

"Everyone's got a few, Skeletons, in their closet." He said with a grin. Raven let out a small chuckle then gave a smirk in disbelieve.

"Do you ever not speak in puns?" she asked crossing her arms. Sans shook his head.

"Aw come on," He said grinning, "I thought that one was a real rib tickler."

"Fair enough." Raven responded then paused, pursed her lips and let her deep Sapphire eyes land back onto Sans, "Thank you, Sans. For not saying anything."

"No skin off my bones." Sans joked. From Raven's shoulders Cherie let out a loud groan, showing his disapproval, while Raven smiled.

"Ok, Bone Boy, Since you're not familiar with Gotham City," She began with a theatrical dip, "Allow me to show you the more favorable parts of my...somewhat...beloved City. It'll be magical."

Sans laughed along with Raven while Cherie groaned again, "Lead the way kiddo."

~0~

Buses weren't really an option as far as travel, Raven thought it best to just avoid them, no reason to spark another commotion. Between her powers and Sans' appearance, it would surely garner enough stares to last a life time. So instead Raven, recommended walking. Something neither of them really cared for she discovered. She showed Sans all the places most people enjoyed, as well as the places she enjoyed visiting. Gotham art music, the Gotham clock tower(because remember when that was a thing) even Wayne Industries.

"Wayne Industries, where most of Gotham's funding comes from." She said as she pointed up towards the enormous building. "Owned by Gotham's favorite billionaire Bruce Wayne. From the stories I've heard, guy lost his parents at an early age, thus becoming philanthropist, doing his best to make Gotham a better place."

"You should be a Tour Guide." Sans said Raven paused.

"I'd have to get over my sever allergy of people." She said as she wrapped her arms around herself. "Besides I don't even know that much about Gotham."

"Know more than me." Sans grinned. Raven smirked.

"Only because I've lived here a few years longer." she said, "It's a big City, and in all my years of living here, I'll never get used to it."

"You're not originally from here?" He asked.

"Nope. I moved here when I was in middle school. I'm originally from a small town in West Virginia." Raven explained as she thought back to when she had first moved to Gotham in 6th grade. It was difficult settling into a big city after spending so much of her life in a little town. Though Raven was excited about the move—and though she would have preferred Metropolis to Gotham—she had always wanted to live in a big city.

"I know how that is." Sans explained, "Back in the underground me Papyrus lived in Snowdin, it's a tiny town with lots of snow."

 _"Snow? Under the earth? How in all of creation does that work?"_ Cherie pondered aloud inside Raven's head. Raven paused, she wondered the same thing.

"How's that work? Snow underground?" She finally asked. Sans shrugged.

"Magic?"

"Is that your answer for all my questions?" Raven laughed.

"Nope." He grinned. Raven smirked.

"Well then. How bout I show you Gotham city park?" she said "Not really a tourist attraction, but it's pretty peaceful."

"Sure."

~0~

"So how's your brother enjoying that cookbook?" Raven asked as she and Sans sat on a park bench in the center of Gotham City Park. They were enjoying people watching—well people and monster watching.

"Heh, he's been cooking spaghetti morning, noon, and night." Sans said Raven tilted her head.

"Must really like pasta." She said.

"Not really, but it makes Papy happy." Sans said with a shrug, "I usually just drown it in Ketchup. Tastes pretty good after that."

"Ketchup?"

"Yup."

"Never would have thought to put ketchup on spaghetti." Raven said. Sans grinned and sat up, eager to explain.

"Ketchup makes everything taste better. Papyrus's cooking, fries, burgers, pancakes..."

"Wait, pancakes?" Raven asked with a laugh. Sans nodded his grin getting larger.

"Yup."

"Ketchup."

"Uhuh."

"On pancakes." She repeated.

"You should try it sometime." Sans said as he sat back on the bench and placing his hands behind his head in a relaxed position. Raven laughed, Sans must have been the type to put ketchup on everything. The two were quiet for a while, enjoying setting before them. Gotham was very pretty during the twilight hours when the sun set behind the tall buildings. Sadly it was also Gotham's most dangerous time of day. It when people like Two-Face, Killer Croc, and Joker came out to play. As well as any other newbie criminal who tried to make a name for themselves among Batman's Rogue Gallery. Though, Raven supposed, she didn't have much to worry about.

"So, what was it like? Living underground I mean." She asked, now thinking about what it must have been like to not see the sun rise and set. She couldn't imagine what it was like to live underground—well she could, but that had only been for two years. A punishment for all the wrong she had done—she couldn't possibly understand what it would be like to live without the sun for an entire lifetime. She looked to Sans who didn't show much emotion...though...come to think, how _DID_ a skeleton show emotion? Up until then Raven hadn't put much thought into it. She just always seemed to know that he was in a good mood. Maybe it was magic? He seemed to be fond of responding with that as an answer. Sort of made Raven wonder if he even fully understood it himself. After all, Raven barely understood her own kind, sometimes even herself.

"It wasn't too bad." Sans answered, interrupting Raven's rambling mind. "To be honest I don't find it all that much different topside. Some of the food is definitely better, and it's cool to see the sun, but everything else pretty much feels the same. Nothing has really changed for Paps and me."

"Well that's cool. Though I can't imagine everyone feels the same as you." Raven thought out loud. Sans shrugged.

"Nah, all my friends' lives changed a lot when we moved topside." He said, "Except maybe Alphys I'm pretty sure I heard her talking about working under some lab somewhere. To make medicine infused with monster magic. She was King Asgor's royal scientist back in the underground."

"Royal Scientist? So you guys had a king?" Raven asked. Sans nodded.

"And a Queen. But Queen Toriel left him. Apparently she didn't like Asgor's approach to getting us out of the underground." He explained. Raven raised an eyebrow.

"Dare I ask, how he planned to do that?" she asked. Sans paused for a moment. Then explained everything that King Asgor had done, and everything that took place in the underground that led to them being able to break through the barrier. It had all been thanks for a kid named Frisk, who had been kind to everyone, despite everything.

"That's...that's some heavy stuff." Raven said wide eyed in disbelief.

"Actually, we're pretty lucky Frisk was such a kind human." Sans explained, "or else who knows, we may have never gotten where we are now."

"Well, I'm thankful for that too then." Raven said, then paused. Maybe saying that wasn't the best move. "I mean, that. um...I don't think I've...uh..."

"So what's your story." Sans finally asked. Raven paused, she didn't think she'd have to answer that right away. She wondered briefly if she should tell him everything, or just some of it. After all, it wouldn't be lying per-say...just omission.

 _"A lie of omission, is still a lie Ravenna dearest."_ she heard Cherie mew inside her head. Raven gave him a silent glare.

"Well, What do you want to know?" She asked, Sans stared. She sighed, "My story can pretty much be summed up with 'A Series of Mistakes.'"

"Oh?" Sans asked, "What kind?"

"How long you got?" She asked back. Sans just smirked.

"Oh I've got a ton of time." He said. He grin got larger, "A Skele-TON."

Raven laughed, which kind of put her at ease for what she was going to say next. It made her nervous, but maybe Sans wouldn't judge, maybe he'd listen and not think less of her. Maybe he'd understand, after all, he followed a king who did a lot of crazy stuff. And it took a lot of crazy stuff to get the Monster Folk to where they were now. What with all the souls, an evil talking flower, and a human with boundless DETERMINATION. Maybe what Raven had done and gone through, would just be a drop in the bucket compared to the stuff he'd seen. She sighed and ran her fingers through Cherie's fur.

 _"Go one Raven lovely. We will not know until we try."_ He purred.

"I didn't always have magic," She started. Sans cocked a none existent eyebrow, "Someone taught me magic. Introduced me to it, and taught me everything they knew. And when I got it, I took out a lot of pent up anger on the people around me. Got the attention of the justice league."

"Justice league?" Sans asked.

"They're a group of super heroes." Raven explained, "Any trouble the world gets itself into, the Justice League. The main ones I've encountered are Batman, Superman, Martian Manhunter, and the Flash."

"Oh yeah, I think I've heard of some of them." Sans said as her recalled back to a new broadcast. He remembered a guy dressed in red spandex making jokes about a man he apprehended. He really enjoyed watching him, "So...what happened?"

"I uh...I got angry, and went a little crazy for a while." She continued, "Made a lot of _horrible_ decisions in regards to relationships, got screwed over too many times to count. Now I'm here, trying to put myself back together after falling a part so many times."

Sans sat in silence as Raven explained—vaguely—about her past. He knew from the start that she was avoiding something, he just didn't know what. He was curious to know what it was she was keeping from him, but also knew that he himself had his own secrets to keep. Everyone had secrets after all. Sans could sense them all. Any time he met with a person he could instantly tell if they were hiding something. Sometimes he could figure it out, other times he couldn't. With Raven, he was able to sense the magic dwelling within her, but he also sensed that there was something missing. Like it was being cut off by something. Part of him wanted to know, but the other part knew better.

"That's the short version anyway." Raven said. "I...uh. I hope that doesn't freak you out."

"Hey, everyone has their weird pasts." He responded. Raven looked at him. She had expected him to get up to leave, and she'd never see him again. This response wasn't what she expected, but oh how she was happy about it. Maybe she'd have a friend in Sans after all.

"We should hang out again sometime." She offered Sans nodded.

"Sure. How bout next time I show you the Monster District." He said. Raven nodded back.

"Sounds fun."

 **I beat undertale on pacifist run. I'm actually surprised I managed to beat it so quickly compared to my first time playing. I kinda feel bad about wanting to go back to do the neutral and genocide playthroughs. I think I should have done neutral but I accidentally killed Toriel, man will that haunt me forever. O.O honestly if my curiosity didn't get the better of me I would have spared her. Curse my curiosity.**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

 **ONCE AGAIN I WARN YOU ALL THAT THIS CROSSOVER HAS SPOILERS FOR MY MAIN STORY. "WHAT IF?" IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED DO NOT READ...Although...I have no idea when I'll be getting back to it...please be patient...anyway...Last chapter was pretty short, and like the rest it wasn't filled with much action. To be honest I haven't been in the right mood to write action scenes. Hopefully this chapter will be different. After all what is a young justice crossover fiction without a little action right? Now let's dive right in, ONWARD TO THE BATTLE FIELD!**

Today Raven sat at home, it was her day off from work and she didn't have another appointment with Leland for another few days. So she decided to spend time by herself, floating above the hard wood flooor of her bed room in the half lotus position, meditating. A technique it from Raven from the teen titans. She had met them under unfortunate conditions. Ravenna at that time had escaped the dark realm she had been banished to by the demon Etrigan, she had returned with a broken mind and Klarion had forced the titan to piece her together. She refused, knowing the damage that Ravenna had caused, and it was Uriah—klarion's old foe—who ended up making her do it. It had been a way to gain Ravenna's trust and to lure her to him so that he could drain her magic and get back at Klarion for something he'd done long before she met him. Her collar burned at Raven remembered the betrayal.

 _"Dwelling on the past does not make your future any brighter Raven Lovely."_ Cherie purred inside Ravens head. Raven sighed and pushed the memories aside, focusing instead on a different image. One that had a more calming effect on her, an image of herself without the collar of Fate, where she could use her magic freely. In the image she conjured she was back to living like a normal person, no therapy, no Justice League, no anger.

A sudden knock on the front door broke her concentration. Raven kept her eyes closed, whoever it was would go away if she pretended like she wasn't home. She tried to conjure the image of being completely calm again. She breathed in, and out evenly.

The knocking continued, causing Raven to become annoyed. She continued to ignore it and focused on remaining calm. Eventually the knocking was accompanied by the sound of the door bell being run over and over again. Raven let out an angered yell as she broke her position and stood with her feet on the ground. The collar around her neck began to burn as she stomped down the stairs.

"I'm coming already!" She shouted making her way to the front door, "Whoever is at my door better have a damned good reason for bugging..."

She trailed off as she opened the door and saw a familiar blonde haired woman. The woman wore a white button up that was only buttoned enough to show off her cleavage, and a pair of red and black shorts. Raven recognized the woman as Harley Quinn.

"Heya Witchy. How's it goin?" Harley asked as she stood with on hand on her hip and the other twirling a lock of her pony tail with the other. Raven felt her collar heat up as she said nothing and slammed the door on Harley's face. "Hey! That any way to treat a friend? Come on Ravey! Open up!"

"Go away Harley!" Raven shouted at the door.

"Aww come on Ravey!" Harley shouted on the otherside of the door, "It's not like that at all."

"No!"

"Please? Just for a little while!" Harley pleaded, Raven leaned against the door with her arms crossed.

"Go stay with your "puddin."" She hissed. She heard Harley huff on the other side.

"Mistah J and me are through!" She said stubbornly. Raven rolled her eyes.

"Sure. Just like you said last time, and the time before that, and the time before that." She pointed out. She then glared as she saw Harley press her face against the window next to the door.

"It's true. Just like you and that Klary guy. I'm done with Mistah J." Harley said. Raven grabbed the cord that attached the the blinds above the window.

"His name was Klarion, and my answer is still N.O. NO!" she hissed as she yanked the cord causing the blinds to fall covering Harley's face.

"Come on witchy, we're pals! Ain't we?" Harley moaned. Raven groaned as she held her hand on her face.

"Yes Harl. I'm still your friend." She said, annoyed. "Why don't you go bug our other friend Ivy."

"Red's gone off to the rain forest. She left the minute she was out of Arkham." Harley said as she tried the door knob. Raven paused. That would explain why she hadn't gotten a note from her. Ivy used to send her notes now and then to check up on her. "She sends her regards by the way."

"Harley, I'm not letting you into my house." Raven said as she dragged her hand down her face. She could hear Harley still trying the door knob. "And would you stop. I have the door magically locked, you're not coming in unless I let you."

"Come on Ravey. I won't stay long." Harley pleaded. "The bat won't even know I was here!"

"Yeah well Nightwing already stopped by a few days ago." Raven grumbled, "Turned my house upside down looking for the both of you. So staying here isn't a good idea for you."

"You let that creep in your house?" Harley asked, Raven rolled her eyes.

"Go away Harley! I am NOT risking my chance to be normal again just so you can avoid Batman and the authorities." She said.

"Aw come on."

"Harley if you don't leave I will call Batman _myself_!" Raven screamed as she balled up her fists in anger. The sound of the door nob giggling stopped, Raven sighed thinking that was the end when she Harley grumble.

"That's not very nice."

"Harley, please," Raven sighed leaning on her shoulder against the door. "I'm trying very hard to be normal. Ivy gets it. Why can't you?"

"Maybe I wanna do the same thing?" Harley tried. Raven rolled her eyes.

"You're not gonna leave until I let you in are you?" She asked.

"Nope." was all Harley responded with. Raven sighed as she went to unlock the door she paused when she heard Cherie purring in her mind.

 _"Perhaps, Raven dearest, it would be in our best interest to conjure a glamour charm for our Clown Princess of crime."_ he offered. Raven thought for a moment, it would help cover her ass if Nightwing ever showed up again, but there was no guarantee she'd be able to make one with her magic cut off like it was. Raven looked down at her hands and let out a breath. It was still worth a shot. After all, Harley and Ivy had helped her through a bad time in her life. She felt slightly obligated to do the same. That aside, Harley was right, they were still friends. Raven unlocked the door and revealed a grinning Harley.

"Get in."

"I knew you'd come around Ravey." She said as she walked past the gothic witch-girl and further inside the livingroom. Raven held up her hand.

"One day." She said, Harley slumped/

"Just one?" She pouted as she sat in the worn out couch, Raven crossed her arms over chest.

"Yes. After that you leave. I'm gonna try and make you a glamour charm, hopefully it'll work well enough for you to lay low." She explained.

"A whatsit?" Harley asked, clearly not getting it.

"It'll change your appearance to anyone that didn't see you put it on." she explained. Harley sat up.

"You mean like you did when you took over Zatanna's cousin's girlfriend to siphon his magic away?" She asked with excitement. Raven frowned.

"It wasn't like that!" She paused, "Wait? How the hell did you...nevermind, it doesn't matter. The point is if it works you _should_ be able to get back on your feet without anyone trying to take you back to Arkham."

" _And_ avoid the Bat?" Harley asked. Raven sighed.

"And avoid the Bat." She said, magically locking her door again, "You can stay in the guest bedroom in the meantime."

"Awesome!"Harley grinned and went stand up when she smacked into a barrier. Raven turned, feeling her collar heat up as her eyes flashed red.

"But you need to promise me Harl," She warned, "Promise that you _won't_ screw me over."

"Scouts honor." Harley said placing her hand on her heart and her other hand up. Raven sighed.

"Harley, you've never been a scout." She said pinching the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger. "I mean it Harley. I don't want to screw up my last chance to be normal."

"Awe come on witchy, normal's overrated." Harley pointed out, then added thoughtlessly, "Besides, you're a meta-human. You couldn't be normal no matter what you did. The world is still gonna see you as a weirdo!"

Raven didn't say anything for a while. Causing Harley to frown, "Awe Ravey, I didn't mean..."

A loud meowing interrupted Harley as Cherie made his way downstairs and jumped on Raven's shoulders. "I'm going to get supplies for that charm. Don't open this door for anything."

"Raven..." Harley began only for Raven to leave, slamming the door behind her. Harley slumped on the couch, "Gee Harl, be anymore insensitive why don't ya? So much for that psychology degree."

~0~

" _Raven dearest? Are you alright?"_ Cherie asked with a twitch of his tail as Raven walked down the street bound her favorite store to buy magic supplies. Raven shook her head, she wasn't alright. What Harley said had hurt, even if she didn't mean for it to. She was right, no matter what she did, no matter how hard she tried, she'd never be seen as anything other than meta.

" _That does not sound like the Ravenna Blu I have known."_ Cherie pointed out with his nose in the air.

"Yeah well, that Raven stopped existing the minute Mr. Giovanni talked us into letting Fate put this collar on her." Raven grumbled. Cherie hissed and jumped off of Raven's shoulders he landed in front, facing toward her. Raven stopped as Cherie growled at her baring his fangs.

 _"Collar or no, you are still my master. Ravenna Blu, you never allowed the opinions of another get to you!"_ Cherie hissed, then relaxed, _"We may never be normal in the eyes of the rest, but that does not change who you are. Nor should it dissuade you from your goal."_

Raven sighed and knelt down to pet Cherie behind the ears, "I...you're right. It won't. It just stings is all."

Cherie purred as he jumped onto his master shoulders. Raven stood. "Now let's hurry up. The sooner we finish. The sooner Harl will get out of our hair."

Suddenly Cherie stiffened and dug his claws into Raven's shoulder.

"Cherie? Are _you_ Ok?" She asked. Cherie looked around them.

 _"I do not know. I thought I felt something. It is gone now."_ He thought. Raven shook her head.

"Hell only knows what it was. Between the collar and Gotham's all around craziness." She offered. Cherie shook out his fur.

 _"You are probably correct."_ he sighed, and the two continued down the street. Completely

unaware the set of eyes watching them from afar.

~0~

Eventually, after an hour, Raven finally made it to her store on foot—she had tried to take the city bus however it seemed the driver remembered her face—She sighed, quickly turning Cherie into a bangle bracelet and went in (the store didn't allow pets). It didn't take her long to find what she needed. Raven had made many charms to change her appearance in the past, to run from her ex boyfriend. She didn't need them now, thanks to a horrible accident that left her cursed to be able to change at will. It had been her own fault, she knew that now. Tricking an all powerful wizard by posing as their loved one _would_ be the right thing to piss them off enough to fuse you to a glamour charm. Though, she had to admit it came in handy a lot. Silverlinings.

While she was there she picked up other essentials she needed for home. Another great thing about one stop shops, everything she needed was right there in one place. (it also helped cover the fact that she was buying supplies for covert magic.) There was just one last thing she needed to pick up then she could leave. Cherie was running low on cat food. Magical witch familiar or not the cat still needed to eat like a normal feline. She made it to the cat food isle and set the cart aside, trying to find the brand of cat food Cherie liked. He was such a finicky eater.

 _"I most certainly am not!"_ she heard Cherie hiss inside her head. Raven rolled her eyes and walked down the isle, when suddenly something crashed into her cart sending it crashing into her, and Raven onto the ground where she lied for a moment.

" _Ravenna dearest, are you alright!?"_ Cherie asked turning into his regular shape once again. Raven glared ahead at nothing as she felt her collar heat up. It grew hotter when she heard a familiar valley girl like voice.

"Look where you're going!" It hissed. Raven sat up and turned to see Nancy Kesha, a former classmate from Gotham High School. Nancy spotted her and glared back. "Oh. It's you. Shouldn't you be at Arkham Asylum?"

"Shouldn't _you_ be on a street corner?" Raven grumbled, as she stood and grabbed a small bag of cat food and tossed it in her cart, then added through gritted teeth, "Anyway leave me be, I haven't done anything to you, and there's no reason to ruin what's already a crap day."

"You haven't done anything to me?!" Nancy shrieked as she purposely slammed her cart into Raven's. She felt her collar grow hotter as Nancy's heels clicked signifying she was walking toward her. "You made my life a living nightmare!"

Raven said nothing and gripped the handle of her shopping cart. Trying to calm down; First a stubborn Harley Quinn shows up at her door, refusing to leave, now she had to deal with a former school yard bully. She ignored the living brunette barbie doll, and tried to get to check out. Nancy stood in front of her preventing the goth girl to go any further. Raven could feel her collar giving her near second degree burns around her neck.

"Where do you think you're going paleface? I'm not done with you!" Nancy spat.

"First of all, my skin is darker than yours." Raven spat back, as she tried to force her way past her. "Secondly, _you_ weren't exactly the nicest person in the world either."

" _I_ didn't get arrested and sent to the loony bin." Nancy pointed out snidely then leaned in close, "I should announce to everyone what a freak you are. They don't let freaks like you shop here."

Raven glared.

"Yaknow, probably not the smartest thing in the world to threaten someone who can turn you into a pin cushion with the snap of her fingers." She said darkly, shoving her cart to punctuate her statement. Nancy laughed, loudly.

"Oh please, we both know you can't do fuck all. I saw on the news, thanks to the justice league, you can't even use your powers to change the nail polish on my middle finger." she jabbed, then lifted her aforementioned finger to prove her point. Raven glared, but said nothing. The Brunette bitch wasn't entirely wrong. Even though she clearly could use parts of her magic, if she cast out of anger Nabu's magical aura would smother hers. She had done it once before, she had blacked out because of it, and woke up hours later. Lesson learned, not happening again.

"That maybe so, but one day I'll be able move on, but you'll still be a shallow bitch." She grumbled. Having had enough of her former classmate's belittlement Raven turned her cart, yanking it away from Nancy, grabbed her cart and followed next to her.

"Don't kid yourself Raven, you'll _always_ be a freak." She hissed in a low tone, she then smacked Raven's cart with her own and briskly walked past her. Raven stood silently(and seethed) as she watched the Brunette woman walked down the isle.

" _Dr. Leland would be so proud of you Ravenna lovely."_ She heard Cherie purr inside her head, Raven rolled her eyes. " _You did not resort to anger, you did not try to use your magic. I dare say you were even rather calm...well for you anyhow my dear."_

"I just wanna go home and put this whole day behind me." She grumbled, then looked down at her cart and remembered she still had a glamour charm to put together. "Oh...right..."

She stood in line for what seemed like hours waiting to check out. Of course the store would only have two registers open in the entire building, and of course they would be trainee's at both of them. Neither of which had clearly finished being trained. So not only did they not know how to do their jobs properly (which Raven didn't fault them for) but do to the lack of registers, it made the lines even longer. All of which just added to the already bad day Raven was having. All of which just pissed her off even further. The day was just seemed to be really testing what she was learning in anger management therapy.

"I swear this day just _can't_ get any worse..." Raven hissed then instantly regretted saying so as a loud explosion got everyone's attention. From the smoke came a boy with spiked hair, dressed as a punk and flying on some kind of either enchanted or technologically advanced guitar hovered above everyone. Raven leaned on her cart and held her face and thought to herself how this just couldn't be happening as the Punk Boy landed on the conveyor belt with one booted foot on the register. He held his guitar and played a bum note that was loud enough to shatter glass.

"AwRight, I'm Punk Rocket, an' this is a robbery! Everyone down on the ground!" He shouted, immediately everyone hit the ground, fearing for their lives as the kid—now known as Punk Rocket—lifted his guitar above his head and smashed the register. "Big money establishments can kiss my arse!"

Raven felt her collar heat up around her neck as she stood with her head resting face down between her hands as she curse Gotham. Oh how she hated it, and idiots like him that made it so. She also wondered briefly what the guy was doing so far away from Jump City. Wasn't he from Teen Titan's Gallery of Rogues?

"Oi! Yew!" Punk Rocket's voice hissed so close to her ear. Raven took a deep breath and slowly raised her head to see the punk themed villain hovering arms length from her. "Yeh yew Gothy."

"...What?" she asked through gritted teeth. Punk Rocket frowned.

"Didn't yew 'ear me? I said get down!" He growled. Raven narrowed her eyes as she felt her collar heat up. If it wasn't for the collar she'd have kicked his ass and been home already. But noo, she was stuck there with no powers with some insane idiot screaming in her face.

"Yeah, I heard you Punk Rockhead." she snapped, "But you can kindly fuck off, I'm having a bad day. Go rob somebody else."

" _You're_ 'avin' a bad day?!" Punk Rocket's eyes bulged in anger as his guitar swung from under him and he landed on Raven's cart. Crushing everything she was about to pay for, and rendering the items she needed to get rid of Harley useless. Suddenly something inside Raven snapped, she could still feel the heat rising around her neck, the collar reaching near lava-like temperatures as she kicked the cart with the heel of her foot, sending it and punk rocket to the ground. Raven's eyes turned red.

"Yes! _I'm_ having a bad day!" She shouted as she grabbed the nearest item that wasn't damaged (a can of pineapple juice) and threw it at Punk Rocket's head as he went to stand. He had barely dodged the item as Raven stomped over to him, "Do you have _ANY_ IDEA the SHIT I have gone through today!?"

She picked up another canned food item and threw it, this one nailing him in the stomach. She continued, "I tried to do the right thing, and curb my explosive anger issues, when suddenly an some crazy chick shows up and refuses to leave! Then finally to get her to leave I agree to help her..."

as she continued forward shouting about her day she picked up random heavy objects. So long as she didn't use her magic the collar would just burn without Fate's aura interfering. Pretty much anything she could get her hands on she was throwing at the punked up kid who was not standing and using his guitar to deflect the canned goods being thrown at his head. "I try to take the bus, DENIED because my powers make me meta, and the guy REFUSES to let metas on HIS bus, so what should have been fifteen minute ride by bus turned into an hour walk on FOOT!"

Raven threw another item at him this time nailing him in the head."only to run into the second to last person I wanted to see today and have her put me down! Now I have to deal with _YOU_!" She threw another item(a small bag of sugar) this one missed, "Some OTHER crazy person, screaming in my face because I wanted to buy things _I_ needed at cheap prices!"

At this point she was standing over the poor kid eyes burning a demonic red. Punk Rocket stared wide eyed as she stood over him with a tomato(Raven was in such a blind rage she no longer paid any attention to what she was picking off the floor) "On top of that now I can't buy the things I need to get this crazy bitch out of my house beCAUSE YOU DESTROYED EVERYTHING WITH THAT STUPID GUITAR!"

Punk Rocket's wide eyed stare turned into a smug grin as he pressed his fingers against the frets of his guitar, "You're sound like you could use a little music."

Raven opened her mouth to shout more only to be hit with a massive sound wave. The last thing she remembered was casting a spell before she blacked out.

 **Ok so it wasn't much of a fighting scene, but I did my best here. You'll get your fight scene...eventually. I mean seriously it would just feel wrong to not have them when the story takes place in Gotham right? Anyway, if you've read this far maybe you're willing to go a little farther, leave a review and I'll see you in the next chapter!**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

 **Last chapter Raven had a bit of a temper tantrum—well actually I don't wanna call it that, more of a melt down really. You know you've had one, you had a bad day everything goes to shit then something happens and you just unload on the nearest person. That's basically what Raven did, except she had this thing where if she blows up too much and tries to use her powers Nabu (Dr. Fate)'s aura will knock her out. ….just some uh clarity for anyone who didn't understand what happened. ONWARD TO THE BATTLE FIELD!**

Raven groaned as she tried to sit up in bed. She looked around to noticed she was in her bedroom. She sat up quickly as she suddenly recalled what had happened, only to have her whole body ache in protest. She let out a yelp of pain.

"Ok. Moving. Bad idea!" she groaned painfully.

"Heh. Mornin kiddo." A voice said, Raven froze as she turned—despite her body's painful protest—and saw Sans standing in her doorway, Cherie sitting on his shoulder. "Good to see you awake again."

"Sans? What happened?" Raven asked, thoroughly confused on the situation. Cherie jumped from the skeleton's shoulders and trotted over her bed as Sans entered her room.

"I dunno what exactly happened, Papyrus called me and he was talking too fast." Sans explained, "But I know you went postal on some human. Papy told me he watched the whole thing."

"You're brother was in the Gotham mart?" Raven asked, she had no idea, course everything from then was clouded by a mist of rage so that may explain a bit. Sans nodded.

"Papyrus wanted to buy more spaghetti." He said with a shrug. Raven was about to ask what the tall skeleton's thing about pasta was but thought there were more pressing matters, "So what happened?"

"I had a really bad day." She grumbled, "Not to sound rude or anything but, how exactly did you get into my house? Or find it?"

"Your cat showed me how to get here." Sans said, Raven nodded. Made sense, Cherie would be more than willing to help if it involved her. "It was a real pain getting in though. Your friend didn't wanna open the door."

Raven laughed as she imagined poor Sans and Cherie trying to explain to Harley that they weren't going to arrest her. And that they weren't the ones responsible for Raven's sudden black out. It must have been one interesting conversation.

"Who was that anyway? Your sister?" Sans asked. Raven shrugged as she worked her shoulders.

"That's one way to put it." She said vaguely, "Where is she now?"

 _"Our jester friend took off after she saw Sans. It would seem skeleton's frighten her."_ Cherie said with a tilt of his head. Raven let out a sigh of relief as she plopped back on her bed.

"Well good riddance." She said, "I didn't end up getting what she wanted anyway."

"So what happened?" Sans asked. Raven grumbled internally, though she had to commend the guy on his patience. Anyone else would have demanded answers long ago. Raven sat up and moved to get out of bed. Her body still ached from Fate's aura putting a choke hold on hers. It was incredible how her body was effected by it. And by incredible she of course, meant annoying.

"It's part of that long story I mentioned in the park." She said, "But I guess I kinda owe you now."

"Well...I wouldn't say owe...but I _did_ use up a lot more energy than I'm used to." Sans said with a laugh, making sure it was clearly a joke. Raven rolled her eyes but smiled as she moved toward the exit.

"Come downstairs, I'll pour you a drink or something." she said.

"You're old enough to drink?" Sans asked. Raven shrugged.

"Hell, to be honest I have no idea anymore.*" She said then paused, "I'll explain that too."

~0~

"I swear this day can't get any..." Raven stopped herself, that would only jinx things. She sat with Sans on her couch. He sat there patiently as Raven hesitated, "I have some serious anger issues. Kind of connected with my magic abilities."

"That sounds dangerous." Sans said. Raven nodded.

"It was. It used to be the angrier I got the more power I could use, but not so much any more." she explained, then fiddled with the golden ankh around her neck, "I've been working on my anger, part of the whole putting my life back together thing."

"So then what happened at the store?" Sans asked.

"A lot of annoying things happened at once, I had a relapse in my anger management." She explained, "Thanks to this annoying trinket around my neck, anytime I use my magic out of anger, or try to cast too big a spell, my magical aura gets taken over by the guy who put this collar on me. Kinda like a dog that wearing one of those barbed choke collars. The more the dog trying to get free the tighter the collar wraps around their neck**."

"So it's a real choker that collar." Sans said trying to lighten the mood with a joke. Now that he knew the collar was what was responsible for that missing feeling when he looked her over, everything started to make a little more sense. She was once a criminal and in order to keep her from hurting anyone else this fate guy blocked her link to a major part of her. He couldn't imagine what that must feel like. If he couldn't summon his Gaster Blasters or his other parts of his powers he'd be less of himself. He kind of felt bad really.

Raven pursed her lips, normally a joke at her expense would annoy her. However it didn't bother her this time. The collar didn't even get slightly warmer.

"None of this bothers you, at all?" She asked. Sans shook his head. "Why? I mean I'm not complaining, it's actually great to have someone to want to keep talking to me, but honestly aren't you a little worried?"

"You didn't seem bothered that an entire race of monsters wanted to kill eight humans." Sans pointed out.

"To be honest that's not the weirdest or craziest thing I've ever heard." Raven responded automatically. Sans winked.

"Exactly." he said, "Besides, you're pretty nice to my brother that one time, you can't be that bad."

"Sans..." Raven began as she held Cherie on her lap. Sans looked over to her, "I think you're insane."

"Call me what you will, I got thick skin." he joked, causing Raven to laugh out loud.(- the writer physically cringed writing that) the jokes just never stopped with Sans, maybe that explained why she never felt annoyed or angry around him. It was great, and the fact that he seemed completely ok with the fact she had once been a criminal, was even better.

"Sans, you're awesome. Never change." She said between laughs.

"Probably couldn't if I wanted to." he said. Raven sighed as she relaxed more on her couch.

"Yaknow, it's kinda great not having to keep my guard up all the time." She said, "Like I said before anyone else would have run out of my house screaming...then again, anyone else would have left me passed out at the store. I guess I kinda owe your brother for that. Don't I?"

"Nah, Papy's just happy to help anyone." He said, "He wanted to be part of the royal guard back in the underground. He wasn't very good at it though."

"He'd probably make a decent member of the GCPD then." Raven said, he seemed nice enough, "Provided he avoided the usual corruption that happens around here."

"I don't think that's a good idea. He had a hard time catching a little kid, I don't wanna see him getting hurt." Sans said plainly, "If anything happened to him..." he trailed off.

Raven didn't say anything as Sans grew silent. He had his secrets, and she respected that, after all even she didn't tell Sans the entire story about her. She didn't bring up Klarion, and so long as the devil haired creep stayed away, hopefully she never had to. Sans may have understood the part of her being a criminal, but she didn't want to admit that she had caused so much destruction over some guy. Especially when she wasn't entirely sure if she was over him. So instead of pressing the issue with Sans any further she asked "So the underground, what did it look like?"

"I can show ya." Sans offered. Raven sat up.

"Isn't the Mt. Ebott, all the way in Jump City's outskirts?" she asked. Sans nodded.

"Yeah, but I know a short cut." he said. Raven cocked her head to the side.

"You know a short cut? From Gotham all the way to Jump City?" she asked, didn't seem possible considering it was a five hour drive from Gotham to Jump City, and that was by car. Sans nodded again.

"I know a short cut to pretty much anywhere." he said, "Never had a complaint yet at the store I deliver for."

"Must be magic." Raven joked. Sans gave a knowing smirk as he shrugged.

"You could say that." he said. Raven rolled her eyes, but smiled and shook her head.

"Maybe some other time. After what happened at the Gotham mart I'm pretty sure Batman will be showing up at my door any time, and believe me, you don't want a guy like that hunting you down." She said, though she knew full well that Batman didn't use the front door. Sans pursed his nonexistent lips in thought.

"Want me to stick around? I'd like to see who this batman guy is." He offered. After all the stories Raven had told about the various heroes of the cities he was really curious, on top of that she seemed to be quite nervous about the guy. Was he really that intimidating? He couldn't be any worse than flowey was after he took the form of a grotesque monster after devouring the souls of the humans and monsters. Now that was enough to fuel the nightmares of anyone for at least a month.

"I dunno if that's a such a great idea. Batman is...well he's an asshole." Raven said, though she'd be lying if she said she wouldn't enjoy the company, "But hey I won't stop you from stickin around if you want to. Hell you can help yourself to the ketchup in the fridge if you want."

Sans grinned, "Heh. Thanks."

~0~

"So your former king, he really wanted to take out all humanity?" Raven asked, the two had spent two hours talking about nothing, drinking some random alcoholic beverage(Raven wasn't sure what exactly it was, it was just something cheap). So far none of the bat family had shown up so Raven asked more about Sans and the underground.

"Heh. Yeah, glad he didn't though. The overground is much better, still getting used to humans though." He said. Raven laughed as she poured another drink. The two were starting to get tipsy.

"Well, I hope that you hanging out here in my house means you're starting to enjoy the company of we humans." she said handing him another drink.

"What can I say? You really put a spell on me." he said then downed his drink. He was only slightly disappointed no one had shown up, but he was enjoying the witch-girl's company, and they had gotten to know each other better. So far he'd learned that after she'd put the guy she referred to as Nabu put the collar on her she had bounced around the world and different dimensions for a while. The magic she used to create a portal usually sapped her powers for at least a week, and it had made for a lot of interesting stories. He particularly enjoyed the one where she went to Oregon and was accused of a being a vampire***.

Raven laughed drunkenly at Sans' joke. It was nice to have some normalcy in her life after the hell she'd gone through in the past. The irony of which wasn't lost on her that she had found that idea of normalcy from becoming friends with a skeleton monster. In fact it made her laugh even harder at the idea. She took another drink.

"Why Sans you naughty thing." She slurred, "If I didn't know any better I'd say you were flirting with me."

"Heh. I think you're drunk." Sans said with a faint blue blush across his face. Raven laughed.

"HA! This is true!" she shouted enthusiastically. "How would that work anyway? I mean you're a skeleton, can you even..."

"I could always show you." Sans joked.

"No way." Raven laughed, "I've sworn off dating."

"How come?" Sans asked. Raven paused for a moment then frowned.

"That's a story no one wants to hear." She grumbled into her glass. Sans frowned, her mood suddenly soured, through his drunken haze he wondered briefly why that was. Maybe he'd ask later, when they were sober. If he remembered. He quickly thought of something to say to change the mood.

"Aw, you're saying you wouldn't wanna bone a skeleton? Heh heh." He joked. Raven snorted into her drink.

"Damnit, Bone Boy, you're gonna make me spill my drink." She laughed. From the coffee table Raven heard Cherie meow. Reminding her (or nagging as she viewed it at that moment) of her job in the morning. She looked up at the clock and groaned.

"Fuck. I've got work tomorrow." she giggled, then looked to Sans who drunk off his ass on whatever the hell she poured him and a bottle of ketchup. She made a mental note to stock up on that next time.

"Heh. So do I. Those hot dogs aren't gonna deliver themselves." He laughed. Raven went to stand only find that gravity wasn't her friend. She wobbled for a moment then steadied herself with the arm rest of her couch.

"You're welcome to sleep it off on my couch," She offered, "or my guest bed...whichever one you find first."

Sans lifted his head and grinned, "You're a real dove Raven."

Raven laughed and rolled her eyes at Sans' poor attempt at a joke. She never really liked doves, or ravens for that matter...actually any bird in general really. She shook her head, not important. Sleep. Now that was important. "Well, you're welcome to it. I'm goin to bed."

As she made her way over to the stairs she heard Sans ramble off a drunken 'goodnight.' It took her a moment to get up the stairs without falling—Cherie Curie was a big help—but she finally made it to her room. There she flopped down on the bed and made a mental note to never drink after having her aura drained again. Suddenly Raven was met with a distinct feeling of violation. She groaned, someone had broken into her room. She had a pretty good idea as to who it was as she felt them loom over her bed.

"Bit late aren't ya bats?" She grumbled, not bothering to turn over to face her intruder. When they didn't answer she groaned and rolled over. "What? Can't ya tell I'm—"

Raven went wide eyed and gasped when her cosmic blue eyes fell upon her intruder. It wasn't the bat, it was even one of his annoying bat brats. In fact she would have preferred to see the batman over who was currently standing over her bed. The last person she ever wanted to see again; Klarion.

 **I'm gonna end it right here on this little cliff hanger. It's currently 2 am and I need sleep. XD so anyway (*) Basically my way of saying I've screwed up Raven's timeline so bad I make the Flash look good. So I can't even remember Raven's real age. It's screwy. (**) I don't like those collars. Not the pronged ones anyway. (***) a Gravity falls fanfiction I'm EVENTUALLY going to get to that involves Raven. Klarion will also be making an appearance in that.(if I ever get off my ass and write it.) anyway if you've gone this far maybe you're willing to go a little farther. Leave a review and tell me what you think. I'm actually surprised I've kept writing despite the fact no one has commented. Oh well, at least people are following and favoring. I'll take what I can get. n_n see you next chapter.**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

 **last chapter Raven explained to Sans about everything she knows. I hope you all understood what little I told, part of it has to be kept quiet so you have some incentive to read my orginal stories. Those being "Klarion Gets a Girl." and "What if?" what if is still a working progress. I haven't really gotten around to continue it, damned writters block. This, however, has gotten my full attention and inspiration. Which is weird, at the moment it's not really all that different from where I am in "What if?" anyway lets continue ONWARD TO THE BATTLE FIELD!**

And just like that, any and all feeling of drunkeness was replaced with sobering dread and hatred. Raven stood up on her bed in a fighting stance and glared as Klarion stood at the foot of her bed.

"Been a while hasn't it babe?" He asked. Raven felt the collar around her neck heat up again.

"Get out." She growled, "I don't care how you got in, but you _will_ leave."

"Or you'll what?" klarion asked holding his hands out on either side of him, he then laughed "We both know you don't have the fire power to fight me."

Without warning Klarion thrusted his hand forward, casting two spells, the first knocked Raven back onto her bed. The second enchanted the blankets to pin her to the ground. Raven faught to get free only for the binds to get tighter. Klarion laughed as he walked toward her.

"How long has it been? I've missed you Raven." He said sweetly, Raven glared as her eye shifted from a cosmic blue to a demonic red.

"Burn in hell!" she spat, as she continued to struggle against her blanket.

"Raven, you wound me. Now why don't you stop all the crap and we go home?" he asked with a smile. Raven struggled more.

"I told you klarion. We. Are. Over." She hissed through gritted teeth. She couldn't risk Sans hearing them downstairs so she did her best to keep her voice down. Klarion grinned.

"You can say that all you want." He said moving close to Raven. He placed the back of his hand against her face sweetly, "But we both know you can't run away from how you feel. Why else would you stay in this house that holds so many memories of us?"

"It's just a constant reminder of the mistakes I made. I'm trying to get better, get my life back together." Raven answered, "and that life doesn't involve _you_!"

Raven's eyes watered as she felt the sharp sting of Klarion slapping her across the face.

"Is that what you call this?" He shouted, Raven prayed no one could hear him, "All this boring crap you've been doing? Work, home, therapy, repeat."

"Y-you...you've been watching me?" Raven asked wide eyed. It hadn't been the first time Klarion had kept an eye on her. However back then it had been to protect her, and keep her safe. Oh how times had changed. Klarion smirked evilly.

"You don't really give me much choice Raven." He said unaware of Cherie who was biding his time, "Ever since you left and let Nabu put that collar on you...Why would you let him do that to you?"

"I'm trying to make up for all my past mistakes. Like you for example." Raven hissed as she blinked back tears that threatened to fall. It was like a nightmare, it just couldn't be real. Klarion laughed hysterically, he grabbed Ravens face his long black nails dug into face reminding her it was all too real.

"You mean like how we killed your parents? That one of your past mistakes?" he asked his face so close to hers. Raven's eyes returned to their usual cosmic blue as she thought back to that time. Klarion had talked her into the murder. She shut her eyes tight as tears stung her eyes again. She didn't want to do it.

"You forced me to!"She said her voice cracked.

"Would you prefered he killed _you_?" Klarion asked his grin spread ear to ear. Raven opened her eyes again as she remembered; her father had gone insane, drunk off cheap alcohol. He murdered her mother, and went to kill her too. But it was her own fault. She had driven him to do it, when she first had magic she had turned her family into mice, where they stayed for a long time.

"I would have prefered it at this point..." She mumbled defeated. Klarion let out a hiss.

"You're pathetic. Every since you let old bucket head put that collar on you, you've lost your bite." He said in a low threatening tone. "Your magic is so weak your barriers practically broke themselves as I came through."

Raven didn't say anything as Klarion lifted her body up with a spell. Her head was lowered her eyes glued to the floor as she felt Klarion grab her face.

"What happened to my old Raven? The one who bit back?" he growled. Raven didn't answer as she saw Cherie. He was crouched ready to pounce, the ground beneath him glowed a dull silver. "You're as weak as your magic."

"My magic may be weak.." Raven said with a glare, Klarion scowled in confusion, "But did you forget about my glyphs?"

Klarion looked back and cursed as Cherie's form twisted into his sabor form and pounced on him. The force of the attack forcing Klarion to break concentration and release Raven from her bonds. She landed on the floor with a thud. No doubt Sans heard that. She took several deep breaths to calm herself, then stood and called Cherie back to her. Reluctantly the familiar complied. Klarion sat up and glared at his own familiar, Teekl who had remained silent.

"You were supposed to keep on eye on him." He said through gritted teeth. Teekle meowed, argueing that he had assumed with Raven's powers blocked he had assumed her familiar would be just as week. "Stupid cat."

Raven stood her back to the door of her room, and Cherie growling and hissing between her and Klarion. She debated grabbing Cherie and booking it downstairs, but that would mean dragging Sans into her fight. This was between her and Klarion, no one else needed to get involved. No one else needed to get hurt.

"I _will_ take you back with me Raven! You _will_ be with mine again!" Klarion shouted, his eyes morphed as his aura became visible. It formed in a crimson flame around his and Teekl's body. Raven backed up, her back against the door. Scared, there was no getting around it, she was scared. Scared of Klarion, scared of trying to cast another spell. The glyph that Cherie had used to change forms was the only thing she had to defend herself in her bed room. She had meant to make more, but never got around to it. She cursed herself for that. She flinched as Klarion went to cast another spell. Eyes shut tight she waited to feel the impact of whatever binding spell he was going to use against her. Instead she heard a strange sound, she opened her eyes to see a barrier between her and Klarion. It was made of bones.

"What the hell?" Klarion hissed, voicing both his and Raven's thoughts. Suddenly Raven felt the door behind her open. She fell backwards into Sans, who's right eye had disapeared and his left glowed with a blue flame. He grinned as he looked down at her.

"Nice of you to drop in." he joked, then turned his attention to Klarion who stared in disbelief. Raven was speachless.

"Who the hell are you?!" Klarion shouted louder. Sans shrugged.

"Name's Sans. I don't think you live here." He said with a grin. Klarion's glare intensified as did theaura of flames around him.

"You're in my way!" He shouted as he went to attack, only to be impailed by a bone glowing blue. It didn't hurt him but it made him stop.

"Heh. You're a real hot head aren't cha kid?" Sans joked thrusting his boney hand outward, Klarion's aura was suddely engulfed in blue and he was thrown backwards. He collided with the wall and fell to his knees. Sans shrugged, "Hey kiddo, you look a little blue, somethin got ya down?"

Klarion clutched his side as it healed, he then glared up at the Skeleton monster, "Well aren't you a comedian."

"I get a few rib ticklers in here and there." Sans said with a wink. Klarion let out a sigh of frustration as he stood.

"Well, this didn't go as planned." he said as he called Teekl back to him. Sans stood ready, not really sure what the kid was going to do. Klarion glared over the skeleton and Raven who was staring back at Sans dumbfounded. He grit his teeth angrily. "This isn't over Raven. I will take you back."

"As for you, Comedian, I'll get you back for this." He continued as he opened a portal behind him, "You can't keep her from me forever."

"Burn in hell Klarion!" Raven shouted automatically. Klarion huffed as held his familiar in his arms.

"I'll see you around, and remember Raven. I'm watching you."He said with a twisted grinned. He then stepped through his portal, leaving Sans and Raven alone in the doorway to her room. Sans looked down at Raven who was now on the ground propping her self up by her elbows. She stared back at him. After a while of silence Sans then felt backwards into the door frame.

"Sans!" Raven called as she sat up on her knees to see if the pudgy skeleton was hurt. Sans grinned as a blue tinted blush reappeared on his face. He held up his thumb.

"Heh. I'm ok." He said. Raven let out a sigh as she relaxed. Sans was fine, he was just still fairly drunk. Something Raven desparatly wished she were.

"Sans, you jerk. I was seriously worried for a second." She said in frustration, the collar around her neck warmed. Sans laughed.

"Heh heh. That's funny, callin the guy who saved you a jerk. That really cuts to the bone." He joked darkly. Raven bit her lip only to laugh. There just wasn't any point in getting angry. He was right, he did save her. Even if he didn't realize as to what degree. She smilled and wipped away the few stray black tears that managed to fall as the collar's heat faded away.

"You're right." She said leaning into him for a hug. "Thank you."

~0~

The next morning Sans sat in Raven's kitchen watching several cats stare at him from the floor, while Raven called in to work. He had done the same not long before her, after the night they had, work was the last thing either of them needed. San's leaned his head on his hand as he switched his attention to the coffee mug Raven had given him. He chuckled as he realized it was a black skull, dark irony.

"I'm sorry Ms. Blake, but something came up." He over heard Raven say over the phone, "I promise, I'll work double friday...*sigh* Half pay is fair...yes...thanks...*sigh* thank you _ma'am_."

Raven hung up the phone and walked back into her kitchen and sat down at the small table across from Sans. Cherie hopped on the table as Raven sighed, holding her own coffee mug(which was also skull shapped).

"Sorry about the mug." She said pointing out the morbide cup, "It's all I have that's clean."

"Heh. It's cool. A little freaky, but heh cool." Sans said for once he couldn't think of a joke for the situation. Wouldn't Papyrus be happy?

The two sat in silence for a long time. Neither of them really wanted to bring up what happened the other night. Raven hesitated to explain, afraid to hear the skeleton's harsh words. While Sans wasn't entirely sure how to bring it up, and didn't want to push a subject that clearly bothered her. However the silence didn't last long, bothered or not he still wanted answers.

"So...Who was that guy?" he asked sipping from his creepy mug, he figured it was better to just be blunt about it. Raven slumped, letting her head hit the table top. She groaned.

"His name is Klarion Bleak." She began, "He's...like me...sorta."

"Meta-human?" Sans asked, prying a little. Raven lifted her head, her natural blue hair covered most of her face but allowed Sans to see one of her eyes looking back at him.

"Yeah. But...he's not exactly human." She said, then added, "Actually he's not human at all."

"So then, what is he?" Sans asked leaning forward as to really look at the gothic witch-girl.

"In the magical world, we call him a Lord of Chaos. An all powerful witch-boy who can bend the very fabric of reality to his will, a natural enemy to a Lord of Order." She said, "The likes of which, put this stupid collar around my neck."

Sans raised a nonexistent eyebrow as he watched Raven hide her face behind her hand. "So, what this guy want with you? He one of those 'past mistakes' you're trying to make up for?"

Raven groaned as she sat back in her chair, she kept her head down. She dreaded this question. It was one she had been avoiding since meeting Sans. She had hoped that Klarion wouldn't show his face, if she never talked about him. As if saying his name was the very thing that summoned him to her. She hesitated for a moment before answering.

"He's the biggest of them all." she said. Sans scowled.

"Ok, I've been pretty paitent for a while now. So, you're gonna have to stop being vague for a moment. Kay?" Sans responded harshly. Raven flinched. She hadn't expected that kind of response from someone who appeared so laid back. However he had a point. He deserved answers and she needed to stop being so damned difficult in giving them.

"I'm sorry. You're right." She said in a small voice, she took a deep breath. "Ok, here's the whole of it. Klarion is my ex-boyfriend, he taught me magic a long time ago, and all that destruction, and all the fights and the reason I need to put my life back together is because I have horrible taste in men."

"You dated this kid?" Sans asked, Raven nodded silently.

"I wasn't in a good place when I met Klarion." She said lifting her head and brushing her hair back with her hand. "He gave me the oportunity to be more than what I was, and I took it. I'd been searching...praying magic was real since I was a little kid. When he showed me it was I couldn't say yes fast enough. We'd been together up until a year ago. A real match made in hell."

"What happened?" he asked after a brief pause. Raven felt her collar heat up with anger, it scortched her neck as she recalled what happened.

"He betrayed me. He made me feel like I was the only one that mattered to him, only to turn around and use me." She said with a hiss, "So I ended it. Threatened to kill him if I ever saw him again."

"Doesn't look like he got the message." Sans pointed out. Raven held her face in her hand.

"He never has. He's followed me everywhere I go. No matter what state, no matter what dimension, he always manages to find me." She said. From the table Cherie mewed and nuzzled her.

"And you can't exactly fight back with that collar around your neck can ya?" Sans asked.

"I put up wards and barriers. Make a few glyphs to do this or that." Raven explained, "So, I'm not totally helpless. I can do a little."

 _"Those glyphs you are so fone of take a lot out of you my dear."_ Cherie said to her. Of which Raven ignored. It was better to be slightly put out than to be completely helpless. Especially when it came to Klarion. He always hated glyphs, he always thought that glyphs were useless and pointless. Raven on the other hand enjoyed them. Way back when she first read about them she used them for everything little traps, keep her things locked up tight, her journal for example was locked via glyph. They worked in a pinch, especially when one didn't have a lot of magical power to work with.

"Why don't you get the collar removed?" Sans asked. It was a fair question, she was in danger. Surely whatever this "Lord of Order" was would take that into account, and let her protect herself. Right? Raven looked up.

"I don't want to..." She answered plainly. Sans stared blankly.

"Why?" was all he asked. He just didn't understand why someone would put themselves in that kind of danger. Even Papyrus, as harmless as he was, used the fullest of his skills with puzzles when he tried to capture Frisk.

"Want the honest truth?" Raven asked.

"Preferrably."

"Aside from the fact that Nabu would never do it? I'm afraid of what I'd do if I had full control of my powers." She answered, "It was so easy to become corrupted and use my powers to hurt people. It's taken me forever to get where I am now. I don't want to risk getting angry again and hurting someone. I don't trust myself."

"That's a lot of guilt for one person." Sans said sypmathetically.

"I killed people Sans." Raven snapped. She hated admitting it, but it was true, and Sans would never fully understand what that was like.

"So have I."

Or, maybe he did. Raven stared as Sans took a drink from his mug casually. She wanted to ask, but she couldn't find the right words to. Who did Sans kill? And was it a recent thing? She can't imagine no one from Batman's circle not hearing about it. As if he read her mind Sans replied, "It was a different life time ago. A different world you could say."

"Is that why you're so ok with everything I've told you?" Raven finally asked. Sans shrugged.

"Not exactly. It's hard to explain, it wasn't exactly me who killed the kid, but it also kind of was." He said, then paused, "Actually you might be able to understand this, with your dimension hopping."

"What? Are you saying it was an alternate version of you?" Raven asked, Sans nodded, "That doesn't make much sense, you'd have to be able to interact with your other self. But from my experience that's impossible. That version of you stops existing if or when you jump between dimensions."

Sans shrugged. Even he wasn't entirely sure of the how, but he did the best he could to explain what he knew. He also explained that their ambassador—in an alternate time line—wasn't the kind person that they were now. In that time line the monsters didn't make it to the surface, in fact many of them were killed in the underground. Including Papyrus, which was why he had killed Frisk. Several times in fact, the kid just kept coming back. Filled with DETERMINATION. Raven sat quietly as he explained it all. The part that stuck out the most was the fact he had done this, because he wanted to protect his brother.

 _"I like this Skeleton."_ Cherie said plainly. Raven bit her lip as she came to a decision. If Sans stayed around Papyrus would get hurt. If Klarion was indeed watching her, he'd use Sans brother to get back at him for beating him. Inside her head she heard Cherie say, _"Raven dearest, you do not know that."_

She couldn't take that chance. She stood, "Sans...I think you should go home."

"What?" Sans didn't know what else to say. Surely Raven wasn't throwing him out because of what he told her. She had just not long ago admitted that she had done terrible things.

"I said you should go home." Raven repeated, "And you shouldn't come back..."

"Not until you explain." he said, not moving from his seat. The sudden change in her mood didn't make sense. There was something else behind it. He was sure of it when he noticed Raven couldn't look him in the eye. "What's this really about?"

"Nothing, I just want you out of my house." Raven said crossing her arms over her chest. it hurt to push away the first friend in a while, but it was better than seeing them get hurt because of her. It wasn't fair to them.

 _"Raven dearest, you cannot make that decision for them."_ Cherie mewed. _"That is not fair."_

"Raven, despite my bone head, I'm not an idiot." Sans said as he stood, trying to get a good look at Raven's face. He needed to be able to read her expression, maybe then he could get an answer.

"I don't want you or anyone else getting hurt." She finally admitted, "If you stick around me you're putting yourself in danger. I'm tired of people getting hurt because of me."

"I can take care of myself." Sans said as his left eye disapeared and right lit up in flame, "You hit your head and forget I saved you?"

"You caught him off guard. That's all. Now that he knows you're hanging around me, he'll do whatever he can to hurt you." Raven said, then slammed her hand on the table between them. "Do you really want him to hurt your brother!? Because he _will_ do that!"

Sans stood silently. His left eye reappeared as Raven met his gaze, her eyes had flashed crimson for a split second. She broke eye contact and slumped back into her chair, "I don't want anyone getting hurt because of me. This is my mess, not yours."

It was quiet for a while, part of Raven wanted him to fight her on it. Truth was she didn't want to be alone when facing Klarion. However, the other part, knew better. So she just sat there with her head down waiting for Sans to leave. She heard him sigh, the chair next to him being pushed back under the table, then heard his foot steps as he made his way toward her door. When she was sure that he left she let the tears fall. She couldn't hold it back any longer.

 **This was the hardest chapter to type so far. So much explaining without giving away too much of the original story, and not sounding completely vague. I'm pretty sure I messed it up somewhere. Ugh this is the first time I've actually done a sequal like this. I dunno how DC comics does their whole 'everything is connected' thing. Hopefully i'll get better at it. Anyway if you came this far maybe you're willing to go a bit farther. Leave a review on the chapters so that I know what you guys think and I'll see you in the next chapter.**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

 **So while I've been working on this fanfiction for the past week and a half, I've neglected my other stuff. This fiction has had a lot of insperation behind it I just can't stop. However I felt bad leaving my readers from the "what if" story hanging for so long. I'm a terrible author heh. So I left a little announcement and hopefully they'll find this story and get their fix. I love you all! Also if you notice misspellings in my work please let me know. My spellcheck suddenly quit working and now anytime I go to use it everything gets underlined. I have no idea wtf is going on with it. Anyhow ONWARD TO THE BATTLE FIELD!**

"That's...a lot to take in Raven." Dr. Leland said the next day. Raven had explained everything that had happened over the last few days; becoming friends with Sans, the many talks they shared (leaving out details like how Sans had killed), Harley showing up, how she went ballistic in the supermarket, and Klarion showing up again. Raven sat in Lelands office, hugging her knees to her chest, Cherie sat on her shoulders. She was still hurting from pushing Sans out of her life.

"I just feel like I fucked everything up." She said, "I never should have tried to make friends."

"Now Raven you can't really mean that." Leland said calmly. Raven snapped her attention to the Good doctor.

"And why not? He never would have gotten dragged into this if I had just left him alone." She hissed, her collar heating up, "But whatever, I don't need him around anyway. I can take care of myself."

"If I recall, if you hadn't made friends with this Skeleton, you'd be right back in the last place you wanted to be." Leland pointed out. Raven scowled as she continued, "If not for him stepping in and saving you when he did. You may not be here, talking about this."

"I..." Raven trailed off.

 _"She raises a valid point Raven dearest."_ Cherie said from Raven's shoulders. _"If not for Sans we may not have gotten away from Klarion, and we may not be sitting here today."_

"The expression on your face tells me you know I'm right." Dr. Leland said kindly. Raven bit her lip, "It doesn't always have to be just you and your familiar. You're allowed to rely on other people."

"What if I don't want to? Relying on other people gets them hurt. Especially when Klarion's involved." Raven said, letting her feet touch the ground as she sat properly in her seat. Dr. Leland looked down her glasses at her.

"You're tone a changed quite a bit since our last session." she pointed out. "Last week you were worried about you getting hurt, today, it's about someone else."

"What's your point doc?" Raven asked bitterly. Leland smiled genuinely.

"What do you think?" She asked back. Raven scowled.

 _"The Skeleton is a good influence on you lovely."_ Cherie said giving Raven the answer. Raven rolled her eyes.

"That's a load of crap." She muttered. Leland frowned, not sure what Raven meant by that. Raven elaborated, "Cherie thinks Sans was a good influence."

"I'd have to agree with him." She laughed, "Maybe your familiar should apply for a degree in psychology."

 _"Perhaps in a previous life."_ Cherie mewed proudly, puffing out his chest. If he could grin he would have. Raven rolled eyes again as she slumped in her seat.

"I think you're both nuts." She grumbled. Leland gave a half smile.

"I don't think you really think that. Deep down I believe you know it's true. You mentioned earlier you didn't feel angry around him." She said, "That even after your 'bad day' that he managed to make it better right?"

"Right before Klarion nearly killed us both."

"And he helped save you, right after he helped you home after passing out." Leland said plainly, "From what you've told me he seems to be able to take care of himself. I admit I don't fully understand Monster magic, even yours vexes me. However I think you might have handled this wrong."

"What are you saying? That I shouldn't have pushed him away?" Raven asked crossing her arms over her chest, "That I should let him get hurt? Just because I want friends I should let him risk his own neck?"

"I'm not saying that. All I'm saying is that perhaps that wasn't a decision for you to make." Leland said calmly. From Raven's shoulders Cherie ruffled his fur.

 _"I believe I may have voiced the very same thought yesterday."_ He said giving Raven a narrow eyed look. Raven felt the collar warm.

"Yeah well if you two agree so much, why don't you be _her_ familiar." She mumbled. Cherie cut his eyes and flicked Raven's nose with the black tip of his checkered tail.

 _"That was uncalled for Ravenna, my dear."_ he said in annoyance. Raven batted his tail away from her face and huffed as Leland watched the two, only able to hear one side of the conversation. She never pried into her and Cherie when they talked, Raven was sure part of the Good Doctor thought she was insane and just humored her. However she also knew better as she had seen first hand what Raven could do. Back when, before the collar, she gave Leland a show of her powers. She had used her powers to throw Leland's coffee mug at the wall behind her, causing the drywall to crack. To this day the crack was still there. Raven never quite understood why, maybe a constant reminder for The Good Doctor that Raven wasn't _completely_ crazy. Raven sighed.

"Ok, so say I buy into it, and I did react poorly." She offered, "There's nothing I can do about it now."

"The universe may have its own plan for you Raven. You never know." Leland said kindly. Raven shrugged "So shall we talk about the other ghost of your past? What happened to Harley?"

~0~

After a while Raven sat in the entry hall of the building Leland's office was in. She hesitated walking outside, in case Klarion, Harley, or whoever showed up. The only thing she wanted to do was get home, repair her barriers and make more glyphs. She wanted to be prepared for when Klarion showed up again, and even though she was still aching from her outbursts sat the supermarket it needed to be done.

 _"Are you going to take into account what Dr. Leland said?"_ Cherie asked from the pocket of her black pull over hoodie. Raven scowled, _"We could really use Sans' help."_

"I don't need anyone's help." Raven said as she stared up at the ceiling. "Just because she says it, doesn't mean I have to listen."

 _"It worked the first time."_ Cherie mewed as he poked his head out to look at his master. Raven looked down.

"Oh yeah. So well I nearly got us both killed." Her voice dripped with sarcasm. Cherie huffed and retreated back into her sweatshirt pocket.

 _"Sarcasm, is unbecoming of you Raven lovely."_ he hissed. Raven hunched over as she placed her hands into her pocket and pet the magical familiar.

"Sorry." she mumbled scratching under Cherie's chin as he purred. She stared down at her boot clad feet and became lost in thought. Would it really be so bad if she went back to Klarion? All this violence could be avoided if she did, she could probably still go to therapy every week. And she didn't _have_ to indulge in what Klarion saw as entertaining. Hell, Klarion could also probably remove Fate's collar, she did miss having the full use of her powers. The feeling of magic all around her, sure she was scared of what she would do if she had it all returned to her, but she did miss it. That wasn't the only thing she missed either. She didn't want to admit it, but there was still a small part of her that did want to go back.

 _"You do not mean that."_ Cherie said with a growl. Raven wasn't sure, she hated Klarion for all the hell he put her through, but she also missed how he made her feel. _"feel? Like how he made you feel used? How he treated you like property? Is that what you miss?"_

Raven bit her lip. Of course that wasn't what she missed, she hated what he did to her. However, he wasn't always like that. He used to be sweet, he used to genuinely care. _"He is not like that anymore Raven dearest. Klarion is a spoiled child, you are better off without him."_

"It's just a thought Cherie." Raven said out loud. She then let out a sigh as she saw a shadow stop in front of her. She didn't look up, "I'm not mentally disturbed, I'm a meta-human, I'm talking to my cat."

"I thought you didn't like the term meta to describe you." A familiar voice said. Raven looked up and stared as Sans stood before her. He grinned.

"Sans what the hell are you doing here?" Raven asked as she sat up. Sans shrugged.

"You said you thought I was insane yesterday, I figured I'd get my head checked." He joked. Raven frowned, then stood putting her hands in her pocket. Sans grinned as he looked her up and down quickly.

"I think you might need it." She said, then—despite Cherie's protest—walked past him. Sans turned to follow.

"Aw come on, no need to give me the cold shoulder." He said "I got enough cold shoulders in Snowdin. Heh heh. Get it? Cause of all the snow?"

Raven stifled a laugh. She got the joke, but she wasn't about to let him know that. She kept walking, hoping that after a while he'd get the hint and go home. "Don't you have work to get to?"

"Oh I had a ton of work to do today," Sans admitted, "A Skele-TON. Heh, heh."

 _"I believe you walked into that one my dear._ " Cherie mewed from her pocket. Raven bit her lip to keep from smiling. She kept repeating to herself it was for his own good, over and over inside her head. She didn't respond and kept walking forward towards home.

"Hey Raven," Sans called out to her again. She ignored him, but he continued anyway, "Wanna know how I knew to find you here?"

No reply.

"I felt it in my bones. Heh, heh." That time Sans was sure he heard something. A low groan he assumed was Raven's familiar, Cherie seemed to share Papyrus' lack of humor. He was sure that if he kept at it long enough Raven would eventually laugh at one of his jokes. He just had to pick the right one. Then another one came to him, "So Paps and me live near this former royal guardsman, you remember me explaining to ya about them right?"

Silence.

"Well one of them doggos came by and ran off with Papyrus' arm." He continued, "I couldn't stop laughin, but Papyrus didn't find it very HUMERUS."

Finally Raven couldn't hold it in any longer. She stopped and doubled over as she started to laugh. She laughed hard enough to shake Cherie out of her sweatshirt pocket. She turned, still laughing and looked to Sans, who was grinning. He had a feeling that one would work.

"Earlier today someone said I was really fat for a skeleton," He continued, "I told them I was just big boned."

As Raven continued to laugh, Sans kept cracking more. He figured if he could get her to laugh she'd eventually start talking again. "I dunno know if I should put a little more BACKBONE into these jokes, but then again TIBIA honest I think I'll get lazy and not try as hard to make a skele-TON of them..."

 _"Ravenna, please, he is going to keep at this until you answer him and make him stop._ " Cherie begged his master, who was still laughing.

"Ok! Ok! Ha, enough!" Raven shouted between laughs, "haha, I get it."

Sans grinned, "Was that so hard."

"I hate you." Raven said with a laugh, of course she didn't really meant it. In truth she was happy to see the goofy skeleton. Made her day a bit brighter. Sans grinned.

"No you don't." he said. Raven let out a sigh.

"No, I don't." She said, as she stood up straight, "Why are you here Sans? Do you have a death wish or something?"

"My reason for being here is of Grave, importance." Sans joked. Raven placed her hands on her hips.

"Sans I'm serious. I told you not to hang around me." She said, no longer laughing. "You don't know Klarion like I do...I don't want you or your anyone else hurt."

"Let me worry about that." Sans said putting his bony hands into the pockets of his coat.

"What about your brother? What if Klarion comes after him because you refuse to leave me alone?" Raveh asked, thinking to the story he told her about the alternative versions of himself. The amount of times he killed Frisk. He'd killed him several times, and died several times in order to avenge his brother. Raven watched as Sans' right eye disappeared and he frowned.

"I'll take care of it." he said, then grinned as his eyes returned to normal, "Besides, Papyrus would kick my lazy bones if he found out I let someone put themselves in danger and I refused to help."

"I'm not totally helpless Sans." Raven said as she continued walking. Sans followed. "I have plenty of ways to defend myself. I just need to make them."

"And if this guy breaks through them like he did that barrier thing?" Sans asked. "What will you do?"

"I'll kick his ass the old fashioned way." Raven said matter-o-factly. Behind her Sans frowned.

"You didn't last time." He pointed out. Raven stopped walking and looked down at her shoes. True, she hadn't fought back that time, but there had been a reason for that. A reason she didn't really want to acknowledge just yet, and probably never would. She had a lot of conflicting emotions when it came to her ex-boyfriend, about a lot of people that used to be in her life actually.

 _"Will you ever confront those conflicting emotions Raven dearest?"_ Cherie purred as he poked his head out from her pocket and looked up at her. Raven scowled down at her familiar, he sighed and retreated back inside, _"A conversation for another time then."_

"Raven?" Sans inquired, breaking Raven from her train of thought. She shook her head.

"Last time he caught me off guard. It won't happen again." She lied.

Sans said nothing as he watched Raven from behind. He had a feeling there was more to it than that, but it wasn't his place to ask, no matter how concerned he may be. "Besides Bone boy, what do you care? You've only known me for a few days."

A fair and valid—if not a tad harsh—point. They really hadn't know each other for more than a few weeks and only a few days within those weeks. Even so—at least on Sans' part—they had a deeper connection than that. Not love exactly, at least not in the romantic sense anyhow, but there was a deep friendship between the two. The kind that didn't show up often in the world. At most, some people may find two or three people they could connect to that made a few days of friendship seem like a lifetime. Sans could feel something like that, even though he couldn't sense everything that Raven had locked away inside herself. That fact, however, may also be the reason why. At least, that's how he felt. Raven on the other hand, may not feel the same way, though that still didn't change his view on the matter.

"I like ya kiddo. Ya seem nice, you were nice to Papyrus and you didn't have to be. That alone makes you ok in my book." He over simplified. Raven sighed and turned on a heel and looked down at the pudgy skeleton.

"I'm not getting rid of you anytime soon am I?" She asked, placing her hand on her hips. Sans shrugged.

"Nope." He said plainly. Raven sighed.

"You could have at least lied, it'd make your job a lot easier." She said.

"Skeletons make terrible liars." Sans said, "You can see right through us."

"Klarion was right, you are a comedian." laughed Raven, "Look, I'm not really sure what you're going to do, I'm just going to be spending time at home magic proofing the house."

"Maybe I can help." Sans offered. Raven pursed her lips.

"You'd be willing to help me?" She asked, "Doesn't sound like the lazy bones I know."

"Heh. Help, drink all your ketchup. Same thing really." he joked. Raven smiled but rolled her eyes.

"That's more like you." She said as she continued walking to her house. "So uh, what you said about your brother. that didn't actually happen did it?"

"Oh yeah." Sans said, "They took his left arm. but it's ok, he's all right now."

Raven didn't know whether to laugh or be horrified, but a wink from Sans told her it was ok to laugh. She did so and shook her head, at least with Sans there at least she'd have some conversation.

 **This chapter was pretty short, for that I apologize. I found it better to end the chapter here than let it go one for too long with dead air. Usually I try to make the chapters as long as possible however there are times when a chapter demands to be ended. Well since you've made it this far, maybe you'll be willing to go a little farther. Leave us a review to tell us what you think. Any and all critisism is welcome. Especially now that my computer has turned off its spellcheck. I'm sure there are plenty of errors in spelling. See ya.**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

 **hello and welcome to Sans the Romance chapter 9! last chapter was pretty short and I apologize for that. Hopefully this will be longer and won't hold as much dead air dialogue as I like to call it. I suppose most would call it filler. Anyhow let's see what happens in this chapter ONWARD TO THE BATTLE FIELD!**

"So is this how all human magic works?" Sans asked as he watched Raven hold an old book in one hand, while the other was raised above her head and sprinkled a fine black powder around her bed. She didn't answer at first and mumbled an incantation in a language Sans didn't know. Once she finished her circle it glowed with a silver light and then disappeared. She let out a breath and snapped the book shut and looked to Sans.

"Not really, but with such little power it's what will work." She said, "Stuff like this anyone can do, even without a magical aura. Simple protection spells to keep anyone from coming in unwanted."

"And this will work?"

"Not for a second." She said bluntly, "But it's not meant to stop him, just distract him long enough for me to take off."

"So you're gonna run?" Sans asked, Raven nodded, and fiddled with one of the locks of hair that framed her face.

"Like I said before I'm not nearly as powerful as I once was, fighting Klarion isn't really an option." She said with a sigh. Sans thought for a moment.

"Why bother staying here at all then?" He asked, Raven frowned not understanding. Sans continued, "He knows were you live, so why not stay somewhere else, where he doesn't know where you are."

"Because I can't really afford to go anywhere else. Hotels are expensive, and it'd look like I was trying to skip town to the Justice League. and I'd rather not get let the them think I'm up to something." She explained, then added to herself, "One more screw up and I'll be thrown into belle Reve..."

"Besides, I'm sure I'm already on thin ice with them as it is after the Gotham mart incident." She added out loud.

"No one's shown up right? Maybe they know what happened?" Sans offered. Though, in truth he had no idea if that were the case. He'd never encountered them, except for Harley, after doing a bit of research the night before he discovered who she was. Raven pursed her lips.

"Maybe they do." She said, "Still. I know enough about my position with them—or lack there of—to know that I don't want them getting the wrong idea. No, it's safer for me to just here."

"Well, if you change your mind lemme know." Sans said. Raven looked down at the skeleton man and smirked.

"Why? Ya givin me an invitation to stay at your place?" She asked flirtatiously. Sans grinned back at her.

"My door's always open." He answered. Raven frowned, "No seriously, our friend Undyne got carried away and ripped the door off its hinges. The door to our house is always open."

"Good god, seriously? Why haven't you replaced it?" Raven asked with surprise. Sans shrugged.

"I like it that way." He said, Raven pursed her lips then laughed.

"You just don't feel like putting in the effort to replacing it do you?" She asked.

"You know me so well." Sans grinned. Raven sighed, but smiled as she shook her head.

"Do you want some help?" She offered, of course she couldn't exactly guarentee that it'd be perfect, it at least wouldn't leave to the two brothers without a door. In gotham that was just an open invite to every crook in Gotham to rob them. Sans shrugged.

"Sure. Besides I believe I owe you a tour of the Monster District." he said. Raven sighed and rolled her shoulders to work out the soreness of the day before.

"I can come by today if you want." she said, "I mean day's not over yet, and I have enough energy to use what little magic I have left."

"Ok then. If you want." Sans said, then turned to leave, "Follow me, I know a short cut."

"What? Short cut?" Raven asked as she followed Sans out of the house. She touched her palm to the door of her house, a glyph glowed silver as she felt the house lock itself up.

"You comin?" Sans asked looking over his shoulder bone at her as he walked towards the alley. Raven tilted her head.

"Down the alley?" she asked.

"Yup. Right this way. C'mon." Sans urged, Raven looked to Cherie, who sat on her shoulders equally confused. "You comin?"

"Uh yeah." Raven said as she hurried to catch up with him. As she followed him she started that things were different. The alley she knew like the back of her hand suddenly seemed unfamiliar, by the time they exited the alley she realized they were no where near her house anymore. They were in the monster district. She stared wide eyed as she looked around, and behind her only to see that her house was no longer in view. "Wha...I...how...how did we?"

"I told ya, I know a short cut." Sans said with a grin. Raven looked on in disbelief, not really sure what to say. Did he throw up a portal when she wasn't paying attention? There was just no way...but then again Monster magic worked different from human/witches magic. Raven looked down at Sans and smiled.

"So ya did, bone boy, so ya did." she laughed. She looked up again and saw a house, she could only assume it belonged to Sans and his brother as it was the only one where the door was ripped off its hinges and beaten to hell and back. "Oh god, you weren't kidding."

"Nope. Undyne said she'd fix it, but that was two days ago." Sans said with a shrug as he walked toward the house. Raven followed.

"Why did your friend rip from its hinges to begin with?" She asked. Sans smirked.

"Undyne gets a little excitable sometimes. She was helping Papy cook, and well...at least she didn't burn down the house like she did in the underground." He said then laughed. Raven stopped, she didn't know who this Undyne person was, but she was sure she didn't really want to either. "C'mon, I think Papyrus is home, I'm sure he'd be happy to help you fix the door."

"Shouldn't you be the one to help?" Raven asked.

"Nah, too lazy." Sans said with a grin. Raven rolled her eyes, she couldn't believe she actually left her house to help. Her plan was to stay home, board up the house and hope to everything that Klarion wouldn't show up. Not leave and help Sans with his door.

 _"You know you could not just leave the door without a door."_ Cherie said in her head, " _You would have felt responsible if anything happened._ "

Raven rolled her eyes. That wasn't...completely true, she thought to herself. Then sighed, who was she kidding. She liked the skeleton dork, and she really didn't want to stop being friends. Raven smiled, "Well then we'd better get started. And by we I mean me."

Sans smirked and grabbed Raven's hand, pulling toward the broken door and inside the house. It was a simple home, in the living room sat a TV, a couch and table and in the corner lied a pile of socks with a bunch of post it notes. In her head she heard Cherie wonder why in the world that was there, as well as make a coment about how it reminded him of Raven's own living enviroment. "Heh, don't worry about the door. I'll just reset it. No bones about it."

"SANS?! IS THAT YOU!?" Papyrus' voice shouted upstairs, there was a thud followed by footsteps hurrying down the stairs. Soon Papyrus stood before them. He looked at Raven and cocked his head to the side, as if trying to remember if he'd seen her before.

"Hey bro. You remember Raven right? She works at the bookstore." Sans said. Raven stood there awkwardly, as Papyrus suddenly grinned.

"AH YES! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, REMEMBER YOU!" he shouted as he grabbed Raven and pulled her in for a tight hug. Raven blinked in surprise, she wasn't much of a hugger so the entire situation was rather awkward. Within her hoodie pocket Cherie growled and squirmed until he managed to escape the tall skeleton's death hug.

 _"I swear Ravenna dear, every day I spend with you I lose one of my nine lives._ " He growled as he wandered off. Papyrus, upon seeing the white and black feline, released Raven. She gasped for air.

"Heheh. Isn't my bro the coolest?" Sans asked as he stood next to the Goth girl. Raven let out a laugh.

"Yeah adorable." She said as she cracked her back. Meanwhile Papyrus knelt down to look at her familiar.

"AW WHAT AN ADORABLE LITTLE HUMAN PET!" he shouted with anthusiasm as Cherie began to groom himself. He gave Papyrus a sideways glance, "I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WOULD LIKE TO PET YOU!"

Cherie let out a yowl as he jumped and ran back to his master, climbing up to her shoulders and hissing. Raven placed her hand on his head to calm him, "Heh, don't mind him. Cherie's just not used to so much excitement."

"Anyway, Raven wants to see the Monster District. Figured I'd show her the house first." Sans said changing the subject. Papyrus beamed.

"NYE HEH! A WONDERFUL IDEA SANS!" Papyrus shouted, "YOU, RAVEN HUMAN, ARE VERY LUCKY. MY BROTHER NEVER GETS OFF HIS LAZY BONES!"

"Aheh, uh sounds cool." Raven said, "But what about your guy's door? It's really not safe to...well...not have one."

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" Papyrus asked with gusto, "OUR DOOR IS PERFECTLY FINE!"

Raven looked back to the enterance to the skeleton's house to see that the once broken door was already fixed. Almost as if it had never been broken to begin with. She looked to Sans who only shrugged while grinning, giving off the distinct feeling that he'd planned this from the beginning. A plan to drag her out of the house, the question was though, why?

"Welp. Looks like fate's knockin on your door to take that tour." He joked.

"SANS STOP IT, THAT JOKE DIDN'T EVEN MAKE SENSE." Papyrus said while facepalming. Raven couldn't help but laugh, sure, it didn't make sense, but his brother's annoyed response was more than funny. Sans shrugged.

"Aw, that really hurts bro, cut me right to the bone." He said, Papyrus let out frustrated yell, causing Raven to laugh into her hand, in an attempted to hide her enjoyment of the scene before her.

"SANS! OUT!" he shouted, then looked to Raven who put on a straight face, "I'M SO SORRY YOU HAVE TO DEAL WITH MY BROTHERS TERRIBLE JOKES."

"Heh, nah. To be honest, I kinda find it all really...humerous." Raven said with a small smile. From her shoulders she could hear Cherie's growl of disaproval. Papyrus stared at her slack jawed, and even Sans looked surprised, "What? You think you're the only person to make bad puns."

the two skeletons looked at each other, then Sans grinned and said, "I'm keepin 'er."

"SANS NO!" Papyrus groaned, "WHAT ARE THE CHANCES MY BROTHER WOULD FIND A HUMAN THAT ENJOYS HIS PUNS...FORTUNETLY YOU'VE BOTH GOT A COOL SKELETON LIKE ME AS A FRIEND."

Raven didn't know why, but for some reason the fact that Papyrus saw her as a friend made her chest tighten. After all the tall skeleton didn't know her all that well. Why on earth would he be so friendly towards a person he'd spoken to twice. It was all just so foreign to her.

"Yeah bro. You're the coolest." Sans said snapping Raven out of her own mind. Papyrus smiled proudly.

"YES! YES I AM. YOU TWO GO HAVE FUN, I HAVE STARTED MAKING MY FAMOUS GOURMET SPAGHETTI! BY THE TIME YOU GET BACK IT SHOULD BE DONE, THEN THE HUMAN RAVEN CAN TRY IT FOR HERSELF!" He said proudly to match his smile. Raven pursed her lips, remembering that Sans had mentioned that his brother wasn't the best cook. However before she had much of a chance to protest she felt Sans grab her hand again.

"See ya bro! And don't forgettie the tometti!" He shouted as he led Raven outside. Behind them Raven could hear Papyrus' shriek of annoyance at the terrible joke. She laughed, it must have been a normal occurance in the boney house hold.

"Well that was an experience." She said aloud. Sans grinned.

"That's pretty normal." he said.

"Yeah I figured as much, so did you plan this from the beginning?" She asked placing her hands on her hips.

"Dunno what your talkin about." was all Sans said as he kept walking, Raven followed.

"The door, yaknow it's really not cool to screw with a person who's actually somewhat borderline insane." She said, realizing she was talking about herself that way. Sans shrugged.

"Sorry, but I figured it'd be the only way to get you out of your house." He explained, "I figured if not you'd just be there waiting for that weird kid to come after ya."

 _"Well, he is not wrong."_ Cherie purred as he laid on his master's shoulders. Raven leered at him, that wasn't true at all. She wouldnt be waiting, so much as expecting. Waiting implied a type of ignorance she didn't have when it involved Klarion.

"So I thought if that's all you were gonna do, might as well do it with someone who cares about ya."Sans continued. Raven let out a sigh, just her luck she'd find a good monster to befriend.

"Alright, you win. So where to first bone boy?" She asked putting her hands in her pocket of her black hooded sweatshirt. Sans smirked as he looked at Raven's shirt, he laughed then pointed down the road.

"This way."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

 **So, in light of recent events, this story is becoming more and more real to me. Why is this you may or not be asking? Well let's just say I'm currently in a situation like Raven right now. To be honest I never thought i'd ever actually be living out one of my stories, granted it's not nearly as extreme as Raven and Klarion. However I am going through a lot of conflicting emotions like Raven is. It's really complicated, that I don't feel like going into details with. Mostly because I don't think I should as this is about the story not about me. So anyway, last chapter Sans tricked Raven into going to the monster district with him, it was a tad forced but I have plans for the MD and it's chapter 10 so I really need to start adding more than slice of life to it. Who will Raven meet while they explore? Find out here! ONWARD TO THE BATTLE FIELD!**

"So Grillby's huh? Isn't this where I met you the first time?" Raven asked upon entering the establishment. Sans shrugged.

"I like it here." he said as he took what Raven assumed to be his usual seat. She sat next to him, "Besides, a lot of friends come here. Like Grilby!"

As Sans said that he pointed to the fire monster who stood behind the bar. She recognized him from earlier in the week when she first met Sans. He seemed to be giving her a wary look, which made sense, since fire and water didn't mix well and the last time Raven was there she looked like a drowned rat. Cherie probably didn't help much either seeing as he had shook himself dry on the counter. She gave a nervous smile.

"Uh, sorry about last time." she said. Grillby was silent for a while then nodded.

"It's alright." was all he said as he went back to cleaning glasses. Raven looked to Sans who was downing a bottle of ketchup. She rolled her eyes and smiled.

"So, is this the only place you hang out?" She asked.

"Nah, just my favorite place to." Sans said with a grin, "It's a real hot spot yaknow."

From the corner of her eye Raven saw Grillby slump and let out a sigh. She laughed, it seemed Cherie and Papyrus weren't the only ones who disliked the skeleton's puns. It was weird that she even liked them. She'd met several people like him, kid flash always had something to joke about, and he managed to get on her nerves every time. Sans, not so much.

"Y _ou are repeating yourself Raven dearest. One would think you were in love."_ Cherie mewed from the tops of her shoulders. Raven scowled. Sans was a friend nothing more, nothing less. That was all she wanted, romance wasn't necessary. Not after the abuse she suffered from Klarion, romance was dead anyway. Cherie Curie flicked his tail.

 _"Says the woman still debating whether or not she wants to—"_ Raven interrupted her familiar by placing a hand on his face. That usually shut him up, as it caught him off guard most the time. No reason to think about stupid wandering thoughts now. She was supposed to be having a good time with sans, not worrying.

"Actually I thought I'd introduce you to some friends of mine." Sans said with a grin.

"More monsters like you then?" Raven asked. Sans laughed.

"There's no monster like me." He said, "No bones about it."

"I guess that's true." Raven laughed as the door to Grilby's opened again and a human figure appeared inside. Sans looked over and motioned for them to come over. Raven looked and saw a person she'd only ever seen on TV. The human ambassador between the monsters and the humans. The human 'child' Frisk. Though child was a bit outdated, seeing how the kid was probably in their early twenties or at the very least, close to getting into them. They smiled at Sans and walked over.

"Sans!" they said sweetly then looked over to Raven who sat there awkwardly, not sure what to say. "Who's your friend Sans?"

"Raven this is Frisk," Sans said with a smile as he then gestured toward Raven, "Frisk, this is Raven, the human I told you about."

"Wow, didn't think I'd be meeting the monster ambassador." Raven said calmly, though on the inside she was practically giddy. It wasn't every day she met someone so important. Guess she was wrong about nothing surprising her anymore. "Nice to meet you."

"I've actually heard of you before." Frisk said as she shook Raven's hand. "You're that girl with the magical powers who fought the justice league (X) years ago. Aren't you?"

"Uh...y-yeah..." Raven mumbled as she slouched over the bar, "That's me..."

"How'd you know about that?" Sans asked, genuinely surprised. Frisk turned and shrugged.

"Being the ambassador, I have access to a lot of records regarding the different cities every Monster District is erected. Raven Blu was a name at the top of their list of super powered criminals." she admitted. Raven rested her hand on her chin as she propped herself up on the bar. She sighed, guess she should have known better than to hope that she'd be past all that. After all, why wouldn't Gotham City not have a file on her. "Oh! But I don't think you're dangerous."

"Hm?" Raven asked, shifting her eyes toward the androgynous ambassador. Frisk nodded.

"I said I don't think you're dangerous." She said, "If you were, I don't think Sans would have decided to be friends with you."

"Heh. Kid's gotta point." Sans said with a grin as he patted Raven on the back. Frisk nodded.

"Plus, Sans has told me a lot about you. You saved a bunch of people the other day." She said. Raven gave a nervous smile as she scratched the back of her head. "Only someone really heroic would do such a thing. Not a criminal."

"I don't know if you call having a bad day and scaring the piss out of some punk to be heroic." Raven said nervously. On the bar Cherie mewed.

' _She reminds me of another skeleton we know, Raven my dear.'_ he said inside Raven's head. She paused to think. She did exude a familiar energy, like Papyrus. Course considering how much time the ambassador spent with the monsters, and that she seemed to be close friends with Sans, it made sense.

"I'm surprised you were able to get away from your work to come by, Frisk." Sans said changing the subject. Frisk let out a sigh of exhaustion as she sat down on the other side of Sans.

"Yeah, I've been super busy! Especially after coming to Gotham." She said, "I can't believe how many criminals are. Thanks to them we keep having to move the dates of things, it's such a pain."

"Heheheh. You seem bone tired." Sans joked, making both Frisk and Raven snort with laughter.

"Yeah, but one thing I do like about this gig? I got to meet the Justice league!" Frisk then said with joy in her eyes. Raven kept quiet, the Justice League wasn't exactly a topic she was fond of, seeing how every time she met them she always seemed to bump heads with one, if not all of the members. Frisk seemed to be over joyed to have gotten to meet them, and far be it for Raven to spoil it for the young ambassador. Instead she decided to order a drink.

"I've never seen these heroes." Sans admitted then grinned, "Raven tells me they're all over the place. I feel kinda let out."

"I especially enjoyed talking to Zatanna." Frisk said gleefully. Upon hearing Zatanna's name, Raven's grip on her drink tightened to the point of shattering the glass. Sans and Frisk looked to her with a look of surprise. "Oh my goodness. Raven are you alright?"

"Huh?" Raven mumbled coming back from whatever daydream she was in as she felt her collar burning with rage so hot she didn't even notice the glass in her hand. It wasn't until she heard Cherie that she noticed. She looked down at her hand and quickly hid it away from both Sans and Frisk as she tried to calm down. "I'm fine. No worries. No worries!"

She then stood, "I'll...be right back. I'm gonna go rinse off my hand." she then quickly made her way towards the restrooms. Cherie not far behind her as they left Sans and Frisk at the bar. Frisk slouched in her seat.

"Did I say something wrong?" She asked Sans who was just as confused as Frisk was. He shook his head.

"Nah, She's just had a long day is all." he explained vaguely as he stared after Raven. Frisk sighed.

"She seems nice though." She said, "A bit on edge, but really nice."

"Heh. She's cool. Not as cool as Paps though." Sans grinned. Frisk laughed.

"No one's as cool as Paps." She said then stood, "Well, I should be getting back anyhow. It was nice seeing you Sans. Next time we should all hang out."

"Sure thing kiddo. Don't work yourself too hard to the bone." he said, waving Frisk off.

~0~

Meanwhile in the bathroom of Grilby's Raven was busy cleaning glass from her hand. Cherie sat on the sink next to her. He chastised her for losing her cool over the mere mention of Zatanna's name, and saying she was going to end up broke if she didn't stop breaking things.

"Shut up." She grumbled, trying hard not to let anyone over hear her. Cherie hissed.

' _Since when do you get so angry about her anyhow?"_ he asked, " _Last I recall you were over this. Why now has the name of that human woman gotten such a rise out of you?"_

Raven looked at her reflection in the mirror for a while. She hated to admit it, but perhaps she was getting paranoid. After the recent collision with Klarion, she was getting paranoid over the idea that everyone was coming out of the wood works. After all, it had been a while since the incident at the G-mart and no one had shown up to arrest her, or at the very least reprimand her for being so careless and letting her anger fly. She had been tense with the feeling of dread after those two situations, and she supposed Frisk was just the breaking point.

 _"The young ambassador seems rather kind, do you not agree Raven dearest?"_ Cherie purred as he read Raven's mind. The young witch-girl agreed. Frisk did seem nice, and she hopped she didn't give her the wrong impression when she broke the glass like that. The last thing she needed was for the ambassador between monsters and humans to think that her friends were hanging out with a lunatic. Or worse, ruin the monsters chance to live peacefully with the humans by making it seem as though Frisk was friends with an ex-criminal. She sighed, she would have to set things straight and apologize.

 _"Well then Raven, my lovely, shall we be getting back?"_ Cherie asked as he cocked his head to the side.

"Yeah. Let's go..." Raven sighed as she exited the bathroom and made her way back to the bar where Sans and Frisk were waiting. Only once she got there she saw that the only one there was Sans, who waved at her from the bar. Oh crap, she thought to herself as she walked back to her seat.

"You ok?" Sans asked as he downed another bottle of ketch up. Raven quickly put her injured hand behind her back. Only a few shards of glass had managed to cut her so it wasn't too bad, but she was so embarrassed about it she didn't want anyone to see.

"I'm fine. What happened to Frisk? I hope I didn't scare her off." She said, from her shoulders Cherie purred. Sans shook his head.

"Nah, she had to go back to City Hall." he explained. Raven bit her lip, she'd have to apologize later. "I hear they're up to some real Frisky business there with all the Monster districts."

"Is that true? Or were you just waiting for a reason to use that pun?" Raven asked with a smile. Sans grinned and gave Raven a wink.

"Looks like you caught me red handed." He said, holding up his ketchup stained hand. Raven laughed only to stop when she felt the glare of Grilby who was cleaning up the glass from her mini freak out. She scratched the back of her head.

"I uh...I'll fix that." She said sitting back down on the bar stool. Both Grilby and Sans looked over at her with disbelief.

"Can you really do that?" Sans asked, still not fully aware of what human magic could do, especially since she had talked about magical restraints. Raven placed her injured hand over the glass shards.

"Yeah, stuff like this isn't hard to do." She said as her hand began to glow with a dull silver aura, "It'll be even easier since I have all the shards here too."

Sans watched as the glass pieces began to reshape and form back into what it once was. Almost as if time was working backwards, upon his closer inspection Sans even noticed that what small shards were still left in Raven's hand were also slowly removing themselves from her skin and added themselves to the small tumbler they once were. Once finished Raven opened her eyes and rested her chin in the palm of her hand.

"That make us even?" She asked as she scoot the renewed glass towards the flaming monster who inspected it carefully. He silently nodded and went to clean the newly formed cup. Raven let out a sigh, that was a relief. She really didn't want to get kicked out.

"Didn't know you could do that." Sans said, Raven looked over at him and nodded.

"Yeah, spells like that aren't used on the offense. So I can use them without Dr. Fate getting in the way." She explained, then gave Cherie a dirty look, "It really comes in handy when the local alley cats break my favorite mugs."

 _"I have not been an alley cat in some years! Raven my darling how can you accuse me of such things?"_ Cherie said as he arched his back and hissed at Raven, who grabbed him by the face and fluffed his fur.

"Don't forget who's buddies broke my favorite mug last week waking me up two hours before my appointment." She hissed back. Sans couldn't help but laugh at how comical the two acted, even if he himself couldn't hear Cherie's part of the conversation.

"I'd say you two are the cats meow." He said breaking up the fight between the two. Cherie stopped growling at Raven only turn and hiss at the comedian.

 _"That joke does not even make sense in this situation!"_ He howled, then jumped onto Raven's shoulder as she laughed.

"I have to agree with Cherie, that jokes doesn't make any sense." She said, translating what her cat had said. Sans shrugged.

"No, but it stopped you two from arguing." He said, then stood, "Come on, let's head out. There's other parts of the GMD I wanna show ya."

Raven nodded and followed Sans out of Grilby's and back onto the city streets. From there they walked down the road talking about random nonsense for a while to pass the time. Where they were going, Raven didn't know, but she was excited none the less about it. It got her mind off of the fight that was inevitably going to happen between her and Klarion, as well as the crap she was still waiting to get from someone from the Justice League. She still didn't know why none of them had shown up to reprimand her for the outburst she had. It made her nervous, would she be able to hang out with Sans for much longer? Or would she be sent to Belle Reve where there was no way for her to see the city streets again.

"Hey Raven ya know there's a snail racetrack around here?" Sans said taking Raven from her thoughts.

"Snail race? Well, not the weirdest thing I'd ever heard of." She said out loud, then mumbled mostly to herself, "Wonder how long it'll take the Gotham gangsters to turn that into something to gamble on..."

"You don't have a very high opinion of your city. Do ya?" Sans asked. Raven shook her head.

"Sorry, it's not that I don't think the City has its upsides, it's just that I'm way too aware of all the bad that goes on around here." She said smiling awkwardly. Sans cocked his head to the side but kept his grin.

"Oh yeah. Makes sense." He said, "Anyway I have a snail in these races, little guy wasn't too fast. Then I suddenly got a brilliant idea! I'd take his shell off to make him go faster, but it only made him sluggish."

"Sans do you just spend your off days coming up with these jokes?" Raven asked as she laughed. Sans shrugged.

"Nah, but it's nice to have someone who finally appreciates my puns." He said. Raven nodded.

"You're probably the only person who can make me laugh with puns. Most of the time they're pretty cringey." She admitted.

"I think ya just like me." Sans joked.

"Oh absolutely." Laughed Raven. Suddenly Sans stopped in front of a rather sterile looking building. Raven stopped too and looked up at it; it was a large, plain looking stark white with a few windows. It didn't have enough of them to be an apartment complex, and since it didn't have anything like a sign, Raven was left to ponder what it was.

"I've got a friend who's lives here." Sans said breaking Raven from her train of thought.

"This is a House?" She asked. Sans nodded.

"Well, mostly. It also works as her personal lab." He explained. Raven looked at the building. It was a strange place for anyone to live.

A sudden loud crash caught their attention. Reflexively, Raven held up her hands ready to cast a spell. Sans only laughed.

"Sounds like Undyne came to visit Alphys too." he said as he place his bony fingers on Raven's hands. "C'mon, it's better if we go on inside. They probably couldn't hear the door bell anyway."

 **I'm gonna stop the chapter here, it's been way too long since I had the chance to type anything. My new computer doesn't like word so I'm using my old one and it likes to go black for no reason. So yeah, I hope you all enjoyed it and are enjoying the story so far. I hope to come back and post as often as I can. See you in the next chapter.**


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